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Dream comes true as Andhra Pradesh interlinks Godavari and Krishna rivers

In the first phase, about 80 TMC of water from river Godavari will be transferred to the Krishna basin through a lift irrigation project constructed at Pattiseema village in West Godavari district.

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh witnessed a historic moment on Wednesday when the decades-old dream of inter-linking of rivers was realised. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu switched on the pump at Ibrahimpatnam village near Vijayawada, releasing water from river Godavari into Krishna river, an occasion that set off celebrations across the region.
Though the idea of inter-linking of rivers has been on the drawing board for over six decades, it is the first time that the water from one river basin has been successfully diverted to the other to meet the irrigation and drinking water needs in the backward regions.
In the first phase, about 80 TMC of water from river Godavari will be transferred to the Krishna basin through a lift irrigation project constructed at Pattiseema village in West Godavari district. The water will be pumped into Polavaram canal, about 4 kms away, from where the water would reach Krishna barrage at Vijayawada after travelling a distance of over 175 kms. By next year, 24 vertical turbine pumps of 4,611 HP each will lift and pump the water through 12 rows of pipelines into the canal.
"The inter-linking of rivers has been on the cards from the days when eminent engineer K L Rao was the Water Resources Minister in the Union Cabinet in 1950s. The plan was revived during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government. But, this is the first time ever that it has been implemented," said P Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications) to AP government, adding that the place of confluence of the two rivers near Ibrahimpatnam would be developed as a tourist spot.
It is estimated that every year about 3000 TMC of Godavari water flows away into the Bay of Bengal unutilised while there is hardly enough water in the Krishna basin.
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