To maintain a flood cushion of more than 10 tmcft, the Somasila Reservoir only stores water up to 86% of its capacity.
To maintain a flood cushion of more than 10 tmcft, the Somasila Reservoir only stores water up to 86% of its capacity.
There was some respite for the people living in the Penna river mandals as heavy flow continued in the Somasila reservoir, the lifeline of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday as well.
According to a report compiled by the Department of Water Resources, about 87,000 cusecs of water was released from Somsila following incessant rains in the upstream catchment areas, bringing more than 74,000 cusecs of water into the reservoir. The water in the reservoir was stored only up to 86.03% of the maximum capacity of 78 tmcft by the irrigation authorities to maintain a flood cushion of more than 10 tmcft. Irrigation officials expect the water flow to remain high during the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, storage at Kandaleru reservoir, the other major reservoir under the Telugu Ganga project, remained comfortable at 53.89 tmcft, which is 79% of its total capacity of 68.03 tmcft. The reservoir, which meets the drinking water needs of Chennai, Tirupati and Srihalakasti, still had a flood cushion of 14.14 tmcft. Irrigation officials on Sunday released 1,755 cusecs of water from the reservoir after an influx of 2,700 cusecs.