Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy called for prudent Telangana water management to protect drinking supplies while providing available water to standing Kharif crops.
He said officials should base water releases on actual usable storage, dependable inflows and realistic rainfall assessments. The direction came amid El Niño conditions and uncertainty over rainfall during the remaining monsoon period.
Uttam reviewed reservoir levels and irrigation prospects for the rest of the Kharif season at Jal Soudha on Tuesday.
The minister said drinking-water security would remain a paramount consideration. However, adequate water should not be withheld from irrigation where reservoirs and other dependable sources had sufficient supplies.
“Our approach must be judicious. We have to protect drinking-water requirements while ensuring that water available beyond those requirements reaches standing crops,” Uttam said. “Every release must be based on actual usable storage, dependable inflows and a realistic assessment of rainfall,” he added.
Telangana water management focuses on reservoir availability
Uttam said major reservoirs in the Krishna basin held 746.12 TMC against their combined capacity of 973.68 TMC. The storage represented 76.63% of the reservoirs’ total capacity, according to figures presented during the review.
Meanwhile, reservoirs in the Godavari basin held 208.38 TMC against a combined capacity of 306.20 TMC. Their storage stood at 68.1% of capacity. The minister cautioned officials against relying only on gross storage percentages while assessing the water position.
Instead, he directed them to provide a detailed picture of the water actually available for various requirements. Every assessment should clearly show gross capacity and live storage, he said. Officials should also specify usable water, committed requirements and the quantity genuinely available for irrigation.
Telangana water management review covers Nagarjuna Sagar
Uttam also reviewed the position at Nagarjuna Sagar, a joint project in the Krishna basin. He said the reservoir held 164 TMC against a gross capacity of 312 TMC. Consequently, the project had a flood cushion of about 47%.
The Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal served an ayacut of more than 6.4 lakh acres in Telangana, the minister said. The command area extended across Nalgonda, Suryapet and Khammam districts. Therefore, water availability at the reservoir remained significant for standing crops across the three districts.
Uttam said officials should avoid presenting an overly optimistic assessment merely because gross reservoir storage appeared comfortable. The government aimed to use every dependable source available during the remaining Kharif season, Uttam said.
Its immediate objective was to protect standing crops while preserving adequate supplies amid uncertainty over future inflows. At the same time, the government planned to maintain transparency with farmers about actual water availability.
Uttam said water management during the coming months should rely on prudence and scientific assessment. Actual availability, rather than optimistic assumptions about future rainfall, should guide decisions. The minister also held the Civil Supplies portfolio.