Tungabhadra gets record inflows, but Anantapur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh can draw little of it

Much of the district’s allotment of 42.2 tmcft is going unutilised as the HLC Main Canal is in bad shape

The Tungabhadra Dam at Hospet in Karnataka, which serves the Irrigation needs of Kurnool and Anantapur districts, in addition to Karnataka and Telangana, received the second highest quantum of water (597.62 tmcft) in its history during the current water year. The highest-ever water yield in the dam was 677.30 tmcft in the 1961-62 water year.

This year’s record yield was thanks to catchment areas of the Tunga and Bhadra rivers which originate from the Western Ghats in Karnataka receiving heavy rains.

The dam has a holding capacity of 105.788 tmcft. Only for four water years since the construction of the dam has it witnessed such large yields — 300 tmcft in 1978-79, 292 tmcft in 1980-81, 311 tmcft in 1994-95 and 291 tmcft in 2007-08.

This year, Anantapur district too witnessed heavy rains leading to flooding of the city. However, lack of irrigation storage facilities has meant that much of its water allocation from Tungabhadra every year goes unutilised. This year, Anantapur district was allocated an additional 2.6 tmcft this month after the reassessment of the water yield at TB dam, taking up this year’s allocation to 28.2 tmcft.

Modernisation works on the TB High-Level Main Canal (HLC) has been stopped by the current government after being dragged on for five years and left incomplete by the TDP regime. The bad condition of the HLC Main Canal has prevented the Irrigation Department from drawing 3,500 cusecs of its designed capacity every year.

The bad condition of the canal allows the department to draw only 2,000 cusecs from the Karnataka border, up to which the canal has been modernised. The entire stretch of the canal falling in Andhra Pradesh is yet to be modernised.