With the water levels at some city reservoirs depleting owing to a prolonged dry spell during the north-east monsoon season, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has prepared alternatives to meet the water needs of the city.

According to the officials, the water levels at Thatipudi and Raiwada reservoirs have drastically gone down. As an alternative, some maintenance works are being undertaken at the Yeleru Left Main Canal (LMC) that feeds water from Yeleru reservoir to the city.

The move, the officials say, will improve the carrying capacity beyond 350 cusecs so that the canal can receive 90 MGD to 100 MGD at the Kanithi Balancing Reservoir. The revival of the Old Raiwada pipeline that pumps 8 MGD to 16 MGD of water into the Meghadrigedda reservoir from the Yeleru LMC, pumping an additional 16 MGD from the Kateru scheme on the Godavari river taking it to 40 MGD and seeking the governments permission to pump water from the dead storage of Raiwada reservoir are among the other measures.

The construction of Purushottapatnam lift scheme on the Godavari river has led to filling of the Yeleru reservoir from which water will flow on its own by gravity. Besides, the reserves in Meghadrigedda reservoir will be built up so that it can last till July next year, Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan told the media on Tuesday.

The government is also being urged to stop release irrigation water from Pampa head regulator at 33 KM of Yeleru Left Main Canal. Efforts are on to maintain the water level of Thatipudi reservoir at 260 feet, he added. As a practice, Mr. Hari Narayanan said, the summer action plan is worked out in February or March and prior to it, discussions are held from August and September.

Supply to industries

As of now, there is no plan to reduce the time of water supply or confine the supply to once a day. However, notices have been issued to the industries receiving bulk supply from the GVMC that 25 % of the supplies could be reduced from December 1, if the condition does not not improve, Mr. Hari Narayanan said, adding that efforts would be made to decide on the regular timings for release of water under various schemes covering the city.

Building plans

Referring to obtaining approvals for building plan online, he said, Any lapse in the process will be viewed seriously. Since the scheme was introduced, 9,823 approvalshave been given.