Heavy rains in the catchment areas of Godavari and Krishna rivers in Maharashtra have brought along huge inflows into both the river systems.
If the current flood water flow continues, it augurs well for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
According to latest water resources data, Godavari has been overflowing at number of locations along its course and first level warning has been issued at Bhadrachalam in Telangana. The overflowing waters have seen the river swell along its course as it goes down into the sea, along the Rajahmundry and the Dowaleshwaram barrage.
For Telangana, the water level has been raising at Kaleshwaram and various barrages it has constructed along the river course, bringing cheer to the irrigation authorities and farmers in Telangana. However, the low lying areas in the East and West Godavari districts in AP have been adversely affected. Various crops close to the river course and due to heavy rains have been affected.
The Godavari flood is available from Kaleshwaram and dowstream. Major projects depending on the flows in the main river course are Sriramsagar, Singur and Nizamsagar, based on its tributary Manjeera, are bone dry as there have been no inflows.
SRISAILAM
The surging dams in Karnataka, both Narayanpur and Almatti, have forced the irrigation authorities to release flood water downstream. The water thus released has been flowing down into the Jurala project, the first irrigation project on Krishna in Telangana.
The huge inflows have forced authorities to release water downstream to Srisailam dam by lifting 21 crest gates. This has also enabled the State to generate more than 400 MW of hydel power, easing pressure on fossil fuel projects.
According to the data from the Reservoir Monitoring System, the water level in Srisailam has been rapidly raising as it has been receiving more than 2 lakh cusecs of water discharged from dams. The water level has risen from 804 feet to 844 feet in three days, as against full reservoir level of 885 feet.
Once the dam gets filled up, and if it continues to get fresh inflows, the pump units at Srisailam will enable both the States to harness power from its hydel plants.Srisailam along with Nagarjunasagar are considered lifelines for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
If the inflows continue for a few more days, State irrigation authorities are expected to let out water into Nagarjunasagar, whose level is at 507 feet against full reservoir level of 590 feet.