With water levels in most major reservoirs depleting, no sign of rains and acute power shortage, the state is heading for one of the worst Kharif seasons. Irrigation engineers say that Srisailam, Nagarjuna-sagar and Sriramsagar projects, which depend on upstream inflows, are almost empty, threatening water release to more than 60 lakh acres which the dams are supposed to irrigate.
“The present levels of Srisailam are the lowest in four years, and we hear that the major reservoirs in Karnataka — Almatti, Narayanpur and Tungabhadra, have not received any floods so far,” said Srisailam chief engineer M. Krishna Rao. Water is released downstream once Almatti is full, said the official. He added that the situation was quite the same at the Tungabhadra dam as well. For the first time, authorities are not sure about releasing water for the purpose of raising seed beds at the Krishna delta system which supplies water to 13 lakh acres. “Unless Srisailam gets water, which will be subsequently released to Nagarjunasagar, we are not sure of any assistance to the Prakasam Barrage which is the principle supplier of water to the Krishna delta,” said an official.