Water inflow into the Tungabhadra Reservoir near Munirabad in Koppal district fell on Sunday owing to decreasing rainfall in the river’s catchment areas, especially in the Western Ghats.
As per information provided by the irrigation authorities, the inflow has come down from around one lakh cusecs on Saturday to 82,270 cusecs on Sunday. The inflow had been rising in the last few days – from 22,536 cusecs on Tuesday to 34,075 cusecs on Wednesday, to 60,941 cusecs on Thursday and then to around one lakh cusecs on Friday and Saturday.
Tungabhadra Dam authorities issued a flood alert on Saturday after the inflow into the dam crossed 98,644 cusecs taking the water level to 1,624.21 ft, with a capacity of 73.939 tmcft, against the full level of 1,633 ft, with a capacity of 105.788 tmcft.
They alerted Vijayanagara, Ballari, Koppal and Raichur district administrations in the State and also the Kurnool district administration in Andhra Pradesh notifying them about the possible discharge of water from the reservoir any time and requesting them and the villagers downstream to take necessary precautionary measures. The dam held 64.728 tmcft water on Friday and 58.212 tmcft on Saturday.
The reservoir received between 7 tmcft and 8 tmcft of water every day on an average. On Sunday, the reservoir level stood at 1,626.22 ft to hold 80.549 tmcft of water.
Though the built capacity of the reservoir is 133 tmcft, the dam can hold only 105.788 tmcft as silt has occupied the remaining space.
Considering the current inflow, the dam authorities expected the water level in the reservoir to reach the brim within a couple of days. The authorities have also planned to release water into the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal, the Right Bank Low-Level Canal and Tungabhadra Right Bank High-Level Canal within a day or two to facilitate farm activities along the canals.
