As of 6 pm on Monday, the water storage in Srisailam was at 166.7 tmc ft against its full capacity of 215.8 tmc ft and that in Nagarjunasagar (in pic) at 178.3 tmc ft against its full capacity of 312 tmc ft.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
HYDERABADThe three-member committee of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) that met here on Monday has decided to share water available in the two joint storage facilities — Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs — only to meet drinking water needs and not for irrigation, keeping in view the El Nino conditions and poor inflows into the projects.However, no decision was taken on the ratio of water to be availed by the two member States. It was decided to meet again on September 4 to decide the water sharing ratio to meet drinking water needs till the next June-July.The meeting was attended by Member-Secretary of the river board and chairman of the three-member committee, Satish Kamboj and Engineers-in-Chief O.V. Ramesh Babu (Telangana) and K. Narasimha Murthy (Andhra Pradesh).As on Monday (August 24) morning, the inflows received into Srisailam were at 206.67 tmc ft and that into Nagarjunasagar (NSP) at 75.6 tmc ft with the help of flood received/released from the upstream projects in Karnataka and Maharashtra and rains in the local catchment areas. As of 6 pm on Monday, the water storage in Srisailam was at 166.7 tmc ft against its full capacity of 215.8 tmc ft and that in Nagarjunasagar at 178.3 tmc ft against its full capacity of 312 tmc ft.While A.P. has been drawing 11,050 cusecs water through its Pothireddypadu Head Regulator and Malyala-Handri Neeva systems, Telangana has been availing 2,400 cusecs for Kalwakurthy Lift, according to the data shared by the project authorities. The two States have also been releasing water to Nagarjunasagar after hydel generation intermittently. Meanwhile, Telangana has been drawing 2,000 cusecs from Nagarjunasagar to meet drinking water needs besides release of water to Pulichintala project after hydel generation.According to ENC of Telangana Mr. Ramesh Babu, they have asked for 50% share in the water available in the two projects since it would be utilised only to meet drinking water needs and the population in the Krishna Basin areas in the State is much higher compared to that of A.P. within the basin. However, it is learnt, A.P. insisted on continuation of the ad hoc sharing arrangement (66-AP:34-TG) even to meet drinking water needs. Published - August 24, 2026 08:42 pm IST
