This is the time of the year when women used to trek miles for a few pots of safe drinking water, especially in the upland areas in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, where fluoride problem is severe. But it is no longer so as the major reservoirs in the region are brimming with water for the first time in several years, thanks to the floods in the Krishna river in several spells making it easy for the officials to cater to the needs of several cities and towns as also thousands of villages.
The reservoirs in the region, including the Somasila, Kandaleru and Ramtheertham, which get water replenishment from the Krishna now have enough storage to not only meet the drinking and irrigation needs of the people in SPSR Nellore and Prakasam districts, but also replenish the water sources in Chittoor district and Chennai.
The Somasila reservoir in Nellore district received unprecedented inflows at least thrice during the water year thanks to the floods in the Penna river and its tributaries, forcing the irrigation authorities to discharge up to 4.50 lakh cusecs of water into the sea. The present storage of 63.717 tmcft of water as against the full level of 77.98 is more than sufficient to not only meet the drinking water needs of Nellore, Atmakur and Kavali towns but also ensure irrigation for the second crop during the summer," says a confident Somasila Superintending Engineer N. Krishna Rao. People in the Kandukur region of Prakasam district also get water replenishment from the Somasila reservoir up to 1 tmcft.
Kandaleru full
For the first time in several years, the Kandaleru reservoir received the maximum storage of 61.163 tmcft. "There will be no problem in ensuring water for drinking and irrigation purposes to the habitations in the Assembly constituencies of Sullurpeta, Venkatagiri, Sarvepalli and Gudur in Nellore district and Srikalahasti, Nagari and Satyaveedu Assembly segments in Chittor district, says Telugu Ganga Project Chief Engineer K. Harinarayana Reddy.
Thanks to water replenishment from the Nagarjunasagar Right Bank canal in time, the authorities in Ongole heaved a sigh of relief. "We have about 70% storage in the two summer storage tanks now. They are being filled to capacity," explains Municipal Engineer D. Sundarama Reddy. The fluoride-affected parts in Prakasam and Nellore could expect further augmentation of drinking water supply this year as the first tunnel of the Veligonda project has come to fruition.
