Copious inflows from the already filled up dams in Karanataka and rain in the catchment areas of major reservoirs has boosted the reservoir capacity in both Srisalam and Nagarjunasagar dams, the lifeline for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The inflow across various dams in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has added to the hydel power generation.
The Central Water Commission has forecast increase in inflows into both Alamatti and Narayanpur dams, which are already full, leading to likely heavy inflows downstream into Jurala, Srisailam and then Nagarjunasagar.
According to latest data available at the Reservoir Storage Monitoring System, the water level at Alamatti dam is 1,697 feet as against full reservoir level of 1,705 feet; and the Narayanpur dam level is at 1,613 feet as against FRL of 1,615 feet. With both reservoirs close to their capacity, and flood warning and fresh inflows, they are likely to step up water release downstream into the Priyadarshini Jurala project. The Jurala project is also nearly full at 1,044 feet as against FRL of 1,045 feet. This has forced the irrigation department to release water downstream into Srisailam dam. The heavy inflows and the dam filling up at Jurala has enabled the Telangana Genco to operate hydel power plants at Jurala.
With the release of water from Jurala, the Srisailam dam has received good inflows over the past two weeks. The reservoir level has gone up from 849 feet as against FRL of 885 with the storage at 77 TMC as against 215 TMC. The Srisailam Left Bank Power House under Telangana has begun to generate hydel power by releasing water downstream into Nagarjunasagar dam. The Nagarjunasagar dam, which was almost at dead storage level of 510 feet, as against FRL of 590 feet, now has water up to 535 feet and the storage is at 178 TMC against 312 TMC.
While the Srisailam dam is getting inflows of about 88,400 cusecs from various sources including Jurala project, the Nagarjunsagar is now getting inflows of about 34,000 cusecs, being released by generating power from the Power House.
There has also been huge inflow into the inter-state Tungabadra dam, whose water level now is at 1,610 feet as against FRL of 1,630 feet.
While this is the case with the Krishna river system, there has also been heavy inflow into the Godavari river network from Maharastra into Telangana, and later into Andhra Pradesh, causing flooding in its river course.