Rains bless Godavari dams
Water level in Sriram Sagar, Kadem and Yellampally dams has increased due to rains
The recent rains in the North Telangana region have increased the water level in major dams like Sriram Sagar, Nizam Sagar, Kadem and Yellampally. Irrigation officials, however, said that it was a temporary phenomenon as there was no significant rise in water level in the main Godavari river which depends on the rains in the upper catchment areas in Maharashtra.
While there is only minor inflow of 290 Cusecs at Singur Dam in Medak district, the downstream Nizam Sagar project received around 3,000 Cusecs due to the rains in Nizamabad district. The Sriram Sagar project, considered to be the lifeline for Telangana, got around 5,500 Cusecs of inflow on Sunday morning due to the rains in the Manjeera and Godavari basin. However, by Sunday evening, the inflow reduced to 1,000 Cusecs. Similarly, the Kadem project in Nirmal district got 80,000 Cusecs in the morning, which came down to 29,000 Cusecs by Sunday evening.
Sripada Yellampally, another major dam in Telangana, also got water inflow in the range of 3000 Cusecs. It supplies the Godavari water for the Hyderabad Drinking Water Project.
The rains also helped improve the water level in medium reservoirs in the Godavari basin They are: Kinnerasani, Taliperu, Laknavaram, Nalla Vagu, Palem Vagu, and Geddanna Vagu. The surplus water from these places is reaching the Godavari river and flows to Dowaleswaram cotton barrage in Andhra Pradesh before joining in Bay of Bengal.
Meanwhile, Central Water Commission officials said that there was 10 cms rain in Mahabaleswar and 20 cms in the Agumbe areas in the catchment of the Almatti and the Tungabhadra dams during the last 48 hours. They expect more rains in the coming week.