Anantapur: In spite of the Rayalaseema region receiving more than 180 per cent surplus rainfall in many parts in the past one year, more than 42 per cent of water bodies are still empty.
The average rainfall in Rayalaseema area is 335 mm. But, excess rainfall touched 521 mm this year even in the rain shadow zone of Anantapur.
Breaches, seepage, silt formation and encroachments of channels are seen as reasons for this. Many river beds and tank bunds which are connected to agriculture sources are closer to the bed area and are unable to get minimum water sources for crops.
There are 1,468 water bodies in Anantapur and Satya Sai area alone has tanks with a total storage capacity of 27.028 tmcft.
Despite surplus rainfall, sources revealed no water was available in at least 432 water bodies and 364 irrigation tanks and other water bodies in the district have less than 20 per cent capacity.
The Annamayya medium irrigation project in Annamayya district has not even a minimum amount of water after the dam got washed away due to heavy floods. Tens of thousands of acres under the project are idling away. Further, groundwater sources here have also been hit.
As the required additional land needed for the reservoir under the Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR) project is yet to be acquired, only six of the 10 tmcft proposed storage could be attained. The surplus water had to be released downstream. Heavy rains resulted in more breaches to HNSS, HLMC canals in Kurnool, Anantapur and Kadapa areas and with the huge wastage of water, several tanks connected to it also suffered the same fate, analyst Dr Suresh Babu said. About 22 projects in Anantapur developed breaches or leakages or other damages.
The share of tank-irrigated area in India has declined from 16.51 per cent in 1952-53 to 5.18 per cent in 1999-2000, whereas the share of groundwater irrigation has increased from 30.17 percent to 55.36 per cent during this period.
The tank-irrigation system has four different functions: soil and water conservation, flood control, drought mitigation and protection of environment of surrounding area.
South Indian and specially the tanks of Rayalaseema are known for their antique value and are created essentially as a source for providing supplementary irrigation during monsoon season, irrigation expert K. Sharma observed.
Tank irrigation has thus a rich heritage on account of long historical antecedents in various regions Vyasanakere, a big tank in Chittor area signifies initiative of . Over centuries, tanks and ponds constituted an important supplementary source of water to the distressed poor. The water table has increased by 5.32 to six metres in the last year.
…
