The rain gods have smiled upon Anantapur district this year, as it has received abundant inflows from Karnataka through the Chitravathi and Penna rivers since June this year, with 9.5 tmcft of water being released into the Gandikota Reservoir.
The Hagari (Vedavathi) a tributary of the Tungabhadra, overflowed at Bhairavanithippa Project for the first time, TBHLC Superintending Engineer Nayakanti Rajasekhar told The Hindu.
This inflow is being seen as a blessing in disguise as it will recharge the groundwater table in the district after close to a decade. The Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir with a capacity of 5 tmcft has so far discharged 4.14 tmcft, while other than the water coming from Upper Pennar Project, the water contributed by local streams was another 3 tmcft, making it a total of 7 tmcft water flowing out of Chagallu this water year.
The last time Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir (CBR) gates were lifted was in 2012, and 2021 too proved to be a good water year with a yield of 25 tmcft in the CBR with a holding capacity of 10 tmcft. This water year, since June, while the CBR filled up 10 days ago, more than 2.5 tmcft have been released into the Gandikota Reservoir in Kadapa District, said CBR Executive Engineer Urandur Rajasekhar.
The Gandikota Reservoir with a capacity of 26.84 tmcft, was filled to its brim last water year and at the beginning of this season, it was holding close to 22 tmcft and got good inflows from Chagallu Reservoir on Penna in Anantapur district and from Srisailam, filling the project very fast.
Meanwhile, Tungabhadra received 411 tmcft of inflows and beyond its storage capacity of 105 tmcft it had released 300 tmcft this year.
