The Karnataka Irrigation Department has initiated the release of water from the Almatti dam to facilitate the cultivation of kharif crops, following a directive from the State government on Monday.
The decision to release water for irrigation purposes comes after a brief respite in rainfall in parts of Maharashtra and Belagavi district. Prior to this, the State government had announced that water stored in reservoirs would be utilized exclusively for drinking purposes. This marks the first instance of water being released from the Almatti dam for crop cultivation this season.
According to the government’s directive, the water release for crops will continue until the inflow to the dam decreases. In the event of reduced inflow, the water release will be rationed, with a 10-day halt in water release every two weeks. On Tuesday, officials increased the outflow from the Lal Bahadur Shastri reservoir to the Krishna river to approximately 80,000 cusecs, a significant increase from the daily average of 20,000 cusecs released until Monday.
The Almatti dam reported an inflow of around 72,333 cusecs, with a live storage capacity of 101.4 tmcft against its full capacity of 123 tmcft. Meanwhile, the discharge from Maharashtra remained high at around 67,504 cusecs, indicating a notable increase from the previous day.
In other related developments, the Hipparagi Barrage experienced an inflow of around 54,300 cusecs and an outflow of 48,700 cusecs. The Raja Lakhamagouda reservoir on the Ghataprabha in Hidkal reported an inflow of 10,180 cusecs and an outflow of 1,582 cusecs, with a water storage capacity of 28 tmcft against its full capacity of 51 tmcft. The Renuka Sagar dam on the Malaprabha had an inflow of 2,953 cusecs and an outflow of 1,194 cusecs, with a water storage capacity of around 11 tmcft against its full capacity of 37 tmcft.
