Vijayapura: Even when no major monsoon showers are in sight and no respite from scorching heat, the water in Almatti dam is still enough to meet the drinking water requirement of the district till mid July.
Thedam presently has around 20 tmcft of water, of which the dead storage is around 17 tmcft. Since dead storage is not allowed to be used in normal conditions, only around 3 tmcft of water could be used, primarily for drinking and essential purposes.
The inflow has not resumed as the rains in the Krishna River basin and in the Western Ghats are yet to arrive.
Though the officials said though the usable water is only around 3 tmcft, yet, it is enough to meet the drinking water requirement till mid July at least.
Even the districts such as Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Raichur face water shortage, the problem could be addressed by discharging water from Almatti dam to Narayanapura dam, the officials of KBJNL said.
According to the officials, if the water level in Almatti dam reaches below 506.87 meters, then it is called dead storage level.
The dead storage level differs from dam to dam based on the storage capacity of the dam. In the 123.081 tmcft capacity Almatti dam, 17.62 tmcft is considered as dead storage.
This dead storage is allowed to be used only during extreme emergencies for drinking purposes only.
During 2014, 15 and 17, the water from dead storage was used during emergencies. Normally, water in Almatti reaches dead storage by June, but this year, the dam still has three tmcft of water to reach dead storage.
Meanwhile the officials made it clear that Vijayapura will not face any drinking water problem as the dam has adequate water.
The officials said that for sowing purposes, Belagavi Regional Commissioner has allowed for the release of 0.08 tmcft of water through Narayanapura dam to Marol micro irrigation project for five days.
The officials said that the inflow in the dam will start only when monsoon enters Western Ghats which is the primary source of water to Almatti dam.
Since the heavy rains not only fills up Almatti dam but also causes floods in Krishna Basin, the officials of KBJNL and Maharashtra Irrigation Department have held a day-long meeting for taking flood preventive steps.
H. Suresh, Chief Engineer of Almatti Division has made it clear that the KBJNL has stopped supply of water for irrigation purposes and the water is stored only for drinking till the dam starts receiving inflow.
