The Hindu 15.04.2013
Ongole gets Krishna water
Summer storage tanks start receiving inflows from Nagarjunasagar.
In a major relief to Ongolites, the summer storage tanks
in the city started receiving Krishna water from the Nagarjunasagar
reservoir to overcome drinking water problem till the onset of Southwest
monsoon.
“We have started receiving about 100 cusecs
of water from the Ramtheertham balancing reservoir through gravity”,
Municipal Commissioner S. Ravindrababu said while talking to
The Hindu
here on Sunday after inspecting the summer storage tanks.
“We
are making all out efforts to push in maximum quantity of water into
the two summer storage tanks in a short span of time by pressing into
service electric motors”, he explained.
At least four electric motors would be engaged to draw as much water as possible from the canal, he explained.
“If
both the tanks gets filled up fully, we can take care of the drinking
water needs of the city upgraded into Municipal Corporation, in the next
three to four months”, he added.
The availability of
water in the two summer storage tanks in Ongole had plummeted to 1,180
million litres as against the total storage capacity of 5,800 ml and the
storage in one of them had touched the dead storage level, municipal
officials said.
Over 200 million litres of water will be lost due to evaporation as the summer peaks.
The
irrigation authorities have promised to ensure water releases for about
20 days as against the normal practice of water releases of 40 days
when the storage gets added through gravity, they added.
The
Prakasam district administration has sought release of 4.7 tmc ft of
Krishna water to fill the major water storage tanks in the city and over
240 notified and non-notified tanks in other villages and towns in the
drought-prone district in a month’s time.
