The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has decided to constitute a six- member High Power Committee comprising representatives (irrigation officials) of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The proposed committee will discuss the Tamil Nadu's request to release water stored at Kandaleru to meet the drinking water requirements of Chennai.
The five-member committee of the KRMB held a virtual meeting on Wednesday to discuss the supply and augmentation of drinking water to Chennai.
Stating that delayed release of waters into the Telugu Ganga project was not benefiting Chennai, the Tamil Nadu engineers stressed on the need to release waters between June and October. As per Bachawat Award, Chennai is entitled to 15 tmcft. The water can be released accordingly, they said.
Andhra Pradesh officials, however, said that it was not possible to release waters before November. The flood waters reach the Krishna between the end of June and the first week of August. Hence, it was not possible to release water during the period as suggested by Tamil Nadu, they said.
Telangana charge
Meanwhile, Telangana officials contended that AP was violating the board orders.
Telangana was utilising the water even before it reached Srisailam. The TS wanted to ensure that water level at Srisailam did not reach 854 ft to avoid release of water. Unless the water level at Srisailam was 854 ft, it was not possible to release waters from Pothireddipadu Head Regulator to Telugu Ganga project, AP officials said.
Currently, the water is diverted by an open canal from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai's reservoirs. As per the Telugu Ganga project, started in 1980s, Andhra Pradesh has to provide 12 Thousand Million Cubic Feet (Tmcft) annually to meet Chennai’s drinking water needs.
