Telangana's major reservoirs are holding far less water than usual, with Nagarjuna Sagar and Singur among the worst hit, according to the Central Water Commission's (CWC) weekly report dated October 22, The Hindu reported.
Reservoir by reservoir
Storage as a share of live capacity, for the eight reservoirs in the report:
- Lower Manair: 70.01%
- Nizam Sagar: 57.91%
- Musi Project: 57.72%
- Kaddam: 54.15%
- Jurala: 50%
- Sriram Sagar: 44.65%
- Nagarjuna Sagar: 29.68%
- Singur: 11.06%
Every one of them is below its normal level for this time of year.
The biggest gaps
The shortfall is starkest at Nagarjuna Sagar, a key project in the Krishna basin. It holds 29.68% of its live capacity against a normal of 79.23%; a year ago it was at 96.61%.
Sriram Sagar is at 44.65% against a normal of 97.85% and 99.11% last year. Even Lower Manair, the best-placed reservoir, was full a year ago.
Why it matters
The low levels come as Telangana looks for more irrigation capacity: on Monday, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy asked Maharashtra to allow a higher Tummidihatti barrage on the Pranahita river, and Maharashtra agreed to have a joint committee study it, Hindustan Times reported.