The crest gates of the Somasila reservoir, the lifeline of Nellore district, was lifted on Wednesday thanks to a huge inflow of over 80,000 cusecs into the reservoir.
Farmers in the district are a happier lot as the major reservoirs in the district have been receiving copious inflows. About 30,000 cusecs of water was let out from Somasila reservoir into the sea from Wednesday after releasing about 1 tmcft of water to Kandaleru in the wake of a huge inflow of 80,276 cusecs of water thanks to floods in river Krishna and in Penna tributaries, including Kundu river.
The storage in the reservoir was maintained at 71.56 tmcft leaving a flood cushion of about six tmcft, Somasila Superintending Engineer N. Krishna Rao said in a conversation with The Hindu.
Release of water to Chennai
Meanwhile, the stage is set for release of water to Chennai, Tirupati, Srikalahasti and Venkatagiri later this week from Kandaleru reservoir which has built a storage of 36.86 tmcft of water so far, according to irrigation department sources. The water level in Kandaleru has gone up to 254.08 ft on Wednesday as the inflow was of the order of 10,000 cusecs each day.
“We are awaiting a decision from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for release of drinking water in the next couple of days,” irrigation department sources said.
The storage in Kandaleru is quite comfortable this year. “We will be able to to release over 1,000 cusecs each day for 30 to 45 days to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai,” Telugu Ganga Project Superintending Engineer K. Harinarayana Reddy said.
Simultaneously, one tmcft of water would be released to Tirupati and another one tmcft to Srikalahasti and Venkatagiri towns. Farmers could raise crops without any problem this time in over 3 lakh acres under Kandaleru ayacut. Another 4 tmcft of water would be ensured for industrial purposes, he added.
