The Lal Bahadur Shastri reservoir at Almatti in Bagalkot district and the Tungabhadra reservoir (the largest in the State) near Hospet reached their maximum level on Sunday

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Almatti reached its brim for the first time this year with copious flow in River Krishna. On Sunday, the water level stood at 519.5 metre (against a maximum of 519.6 metre). The dam had 123.081 tmc ft of water.

While the inflow is 24,000 cusec, the outflow is 18,313 cusec through the KPCL unit on the right side of the reservoir and 403 cusec through the canal.

Heavy inflow

The heavy inflow has been attributed to heavy rain in the Western Ghats region of Maharashtra and the filling up of the Koyna, Varuna and other reservoirs.

Though the dam was almost full on August 5, water was released to the Narayanpur reservoir downstream and so the dam had not reached its maximum level. But on Sunday, water was released only after the maximum level was reached. 
 
While the reservoir level was 508 metre till July 15, it reached the maximum level within just 20 days.

The KPCL unit of the reservoir generated 120 MW (three million units) on Sunday (against its capacity of 290 MW).   The water level in the Tungabhadra reservoir stood at 1632.82 feet (against a maximum level of 1633 feet) on Sunday morning.

The inflow was recorded at 28,000 cusec and the outflow 5,000 cusec. Three gates of the dam have been opened. A total of 8,993 cusec was released through the left and right bank canals for irrigation purposes.

An additional 2,500 cusec of water is being utilised for hydel power generation since Friday. Krishnan Unni, secretary of the Tungabhadra Board, said more gates of the reservoir would be opened if the inflow increased further.

With 31 tmc ft capacity of the reservoir being silt, there is 100.855 tmc ft of water in the dam (maximum capacity 132 tm ft). The filling up of the reservoir has brought joy to the people of Bellary, Koppal and Raichur districts, who were reeling under drought due to scanty rainfall.

Agriculture activities have picked up and the drinking water situation has eased.
Farmers, especially those in the tailend areas of the canals of the reservoir, are overjoyed at the water bounty.

The farmers will now get enough water for growing paddy upto December. Sowing of chilli, sunflower, maize, cotton and paddy has picked up in the region.