Heavy rains in different parts of the State, following revival of southwest monsoon, has increased the inflow to several reservoirs in both the Cauvery and the Krishna basins.
Major dams in the Cauvery basin are fast nearing the full reservoir level (FRL) having attained 89% of their cumulative gross storage capacity.
With prediction of high rainfall for the next 4-5 days, yellow alert has been sounded in most of northern Karnataka. As per IMD forecast, heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places over seven districts namely Belagavi, Bidar, Dharwad, Haveri, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, and Vijayapura.
In Cauvery basin
Against the cumulative gross storage capacity of 114.87 tmcft of water across KRS, Hemavati, Kabini and Harangi, the actual storage was 101.81 tmcft as on Saturday. This is in contrast to 51.15 tmcft of water that was available across the four dams on the same day last year, according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
The inflow into the KRS dam across the Cauvery was at the rate of 34,304 cusecs, while the inflow into Hemavati near Gorur in Hassan district was at the rate of 17,641 cusecs. The water level at the KRS dam was 121.93 feet against the full reservoir level of 124.80 feet. The water level at the Kabini reservoir in H.D. Kote in Mysuru district was 2,280 feet against the FRL of 2,284 feet.
The inflow into the rivers continues to be high due to heavy rains in the catchment areas of rivers Cauvery, Krishna, Tungabhadra and flood warnings have been issued to people living in the downstream of the KRS and Kabini in view of the impending increase in the outflow from the dams.
Krishna basin
The inflow into the Krishna and its tributaries continued to be at the rate of more than 75,000 cusecs and 11 bridge-cum-barrages in Chikkodi-Nippani region remained submerged.
The cumulative water storage across major dams in the Krishna basin as on Saturday was almost 60% of the gross storage capacity. The Bhadra dam has a gross capacity of 71.54 tmcft against which the storage had reached 51.48 tmcft, which is almost 72% of the installed capacity. The inflow into the reservoir was at the rate of 28,016 cusecs on Saturday.
Tungabhadra dam has an installed capacity to store 100.86 tmcft against which the live storage in the reservoir was 72.95 tmcft and the inflow was at the rate of 95,484 cusecs.
The gross storage capacity of the Almatti dam is 123.08 tmcft against which the storage as on Saturday was 70.58 tmcft and the rate of inflow was 78,930 cusecs, according to KSNDMC.
The Narayanapura dam — or Basava Sagar Reservoir — has a gross storage capacity of 33.31 tmcft against which the live storage on Saturday was 26.77 tmcft, according to the KSNDMC.
Only exceptions
It is only the Ghataprabha and Malaprabha dams that have live storage below the last year’s quantum. Water levels in Renuka Sagar dam across the Malaprabha river was just 12.25 tmcft against 37.31 tmcft. Inflow was 4,256 cusecs and outflow was 194 cusecs.
The cumulative gross storage capacity of major dams in the Krishna basin is 417.52 tmcft against which the available storage was 246.08 tmcft. The quantum of water available on the same day last year was 236.34 tmcft.
(With inputs from Girish Pattanashetti in Hubballi)
