A.P.’s half-empty reservoirs offer flood cushion; low levels in Rayalaseema raise concerns

The collective water storage across Andhra Pradesh’s major reservoir network stands at 49.5% of its total capacity, holding 547.56 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) out of a combined capacity of 1,106.36 TMC as on Tuesday. While the half-empty status leaves a substantial state-wide “flood cushion” (space available in a reservoir to store additional water during heavy rains and floods) of 558.8 TMC to absorb potential monsoonal surges safely, it also exposes sharp regional disparities between the northern river basins and the water-stressed southern districts.

The Godavari river system is currently handling discharges. At the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Konaseema, heavy upstream runoff has pushed both inflows and outflows to a matching 98,619 cusecs. As a run-of-river diversion barrage with a gross capacity of just 2.93 TMC, the structure is discharging the full flood load directly to the delta to prevent inundation, officials say.