Srisailam dam gates remain shut amid severe inflow deficit

Kurnool: The Srisailam reservoir is experiencing an unprecedented delay in receiving its first significant Krishna floodwaters this monsoon, with its spillway gates remaining completely closed into the fourth week of August.

In normal monsoon cycles, authorities lift the dam gates at least two to three times by mid-August, as initial inflows traditionally reach Srisailam between mid-June and early July. However, dry conditions across local and upper catchments have kept the reservoir parched.

As of Wednesday, Srisailam held barely 41.51 TMC ft against its gross storage capacity of 215.81 TMC ft, with water levels standing at 820.90 feet against the Full Reservoir Level of 885 feet. During the corresponding period last year, storage stood at a robust 209.16 TMC ft.

Local rainfall deficits have compounded the crisis, with Kurnool district receiving under 30 mm of rainfall since July 1 against the seasonal normal of 117.23 mm. Poor runoff from upper catchments in Karnataka and Maharashtra has drastically reduced inflow through the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers.

Other regional storage centers reflect similar depletion: Nagarjuna Sagar holds 137.34 TMC ft against 312.05 TMC ft, while Tungabhadra holds 28 TMC ft against 105.79 TMC ft.

Overall combined storage across Andhra Pradesh and Tungabhadra system major reservoirs sits at just 33.55 percent of total capacity.

Irrigation officials and water resources experts cautioned that without a swift revival of the southwest monsoon over the Western Ghats and upper catchment regions, downstream agricultural, drinking water, and hydropower generation networks face severe operational strains.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Narendra Kr Varikuntla

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