Telangana Plans Water Balancing Act for Drinking and Irrigation Needs

The Telangana government on Tuesday outlined plans to balance drinking-water requirements and agricultural demands amid uncertain rainfall and reservoir inflows during an El Niño-impacted monsoon.

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy chaired a review meeting where officials were directed to maintain a judicious balance between safeguarding drinking water and meeting the irrigation needs of farmers. Department officials were cautioned against presenting an overly optimistic picture of water availability in reservoirs and were instructed to communicate the factual position to the public.

The government stated that water management in the coming months must be guided by prudence, scientific assessment, and actual water availability rather than optimistic assumptions regarding future rainfall.

For the remainder of the Kharif season, the state’s objective is to utilise every dependable water source to protect standing crops, conserve supplies where inflows remain uncertain, and maintain complete transparency with farmers.

Officials noted that limited irrigation could be provided, subject to constant monitoring of water levels, from several projects. These include Devadula, Nizamsagar, Swarna, Sadarmat, Ramadugu, Buggalavagu, Ramapalli, Palem Vagu, Gouravavaram, Pocharam, Rajivsagar, Nilavayi, Vatti Vagu, Nalla Vagu, Palvai Purushotham Rao (Yerravagu) Project, and the Chelmelavagu (NTR Sagar) project.

The review meeting was attended by Irrigation Secretary E. Sridhar, Joint Secretary K. Srinivas, Engineer-in-Chief (General) O.V. Ramesh Babu, Tunnel Expert Col. Parikshit Mehra, Engineer-in-Chief (Administration) T. Srinivas, and Engineer-in-Chief (Operations & Maintenance and Quality Control) R. Madhusudhan Rao.