Prakasam barrage have opened four crest gates to release 2,800 cusecs downstream

After “zero discharge” from the Prakasam barrage last year, the authorities have opened four crest gates to release 2,800 cusecs downstream on Saturday.

With absolutely no water reaching the barrage from the reservoirs in the last two seasons, the State had to depend on the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS) on Godavari. All the water was sent to the canals along with the Godavari resulting in “zero discharge”.

Moderate rains in Telangana sent Muniyeru rivulet and a few other streams that join the Krishna downstream the Pulichintala reservoir into spate. The extra 3,300 cusecs from the rivulet and the streams have forced the Irrigation authorities to make minor adjustments in the release of water.

Krishna Delta System Chief Engineer K. Srinivas said six pumps of Pattiseema that were pumping 2,800 cusecs were switched off in view of the flood from Muniyeru. The pumps would be switched again once the flood in the rivulet recedes, he said. Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajendra Prasad said all the 24 Pattiseema pumps were not switched off to maintain water level in the canals. Four crest gates of the barrage were lifted by a foot so that the groundwater in the areas downstream was recharged to some extent.

Eighteen of the pumps are running lifting 6,300 cusecs into the Polavaram Right Main Canal.According to the Reservoir Storage Monitoring System, the barrage received 10,500 cusecs on Saturday. Besides the 2,800 cusecs, 6,000 cusecs were released into the Krishna Eastern Delta (Krishna and West Godavari districts) and the rest into the Western Delta (Guntur and Prakasam districts).