Vykuntapuram barrage

Vykuntapuram Barrage is an Indian barrage and water storage project. It is under construction on Krishna River 23 kilometers upstream of existing Prakasam Barrage with FRL 25M.[1] It is designed to store 10 TMC of flood water coming from the Vyra and Munneru rivers. The backwater of this dam will extend beyond Pokkunuru to the toe of Pulichintala dam. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone[2] for this project on 13 February 2019.

Features

Vykuntapuram Barrage features include:[3]

Feature Value
Storage capacity (in TMC) 10 TMC
River Basin Krishna River
Purpose Irrigation and water supply
Length of Barrage 1187.5 m
Length of Earth Bund 1807.5 m
Pond level (m) + 25 m (MSL)
Number under sluice /bays 12 Nos
Width of Under sluices/bays 15 × 8 m
Crest Level + 17 m (MSL)
Number of Barrage Bays 56 Nos
Width of Barrage Bays 15 × 7 m
Crest Level + 18 m (MSL)

To stabilize the existing irrigated area under Nagarjuna sagar right canal, a new lift project construction was started.[4] The project was to provide five step pumping stages and a canal to transfer 7,000 cusecs of Godavari water from Prakasam barrage back waters into the canal near Nekarikallu. The first phase was expected to utilize 73 tmcft of Godavari water.[5] Vykuntapuram Barrage backwaters stretch beyond Pokkunuru to the toe of Pulichinthala Project. The project's first stage was to build a pump house to lift water from Prakasam Barrage backwater into Vykuntapuram Barrage pond. The second lift stage moves water from Vykuntapuram Barrage pond to the existing K.L Rao sagar pulichintala Project. Later lift Stages carry water from K.L Rao Sagar to Nagarjuna sagar. A pressure main enables lifting water to Srisailam Project via the existing reversible turbine pump houses in Nagarjuna Sagar dam and its tail pond project. A gravity canal from Ibrahimpatnam to Vykuntapuram Barrage pond can deliver the Polavaram right main canal/ Budameru diversion canal waters directly into the Vykuntapuram barrage pond since Polavaram right main canal level is 33 m MSL at Ambapuram hill near Vijayawada.

Krishna River Projects Salient Features
Project Name FRL Creast Level MDDL Tail Race Level Power Generation Reservoir Storage capacity in TMC
Capacity Turbines Area
m Ft m Ft m Ft m Ft MW Type km2 Gross Live Dead
Srisailam Project 269.75 885 252.98 830 214.88 705 163 535 1670[6] Francis 541.9 215.8 178.7 3.42
Nagarjuna Sagar 179.83 590 166.42 546 155.45 510 73.15 240 816[7] Francis 285 312 181
Nagarjuna Sagar Tail pond 75 246 48.33 158.56 50 Kaplan
Pulichinthala Project 53.34 175 36.34 119.23 20 65.6 120[8] Kaplan 144 45.77 36.23 3.61
Vykuntapuram Barrage 25 82 17 55.77 10
Prakasam Barrage 17.39 57.05 13.73 45.05 30 3.07

There is a proposal to link Nagarjuna Sagar Dam across the Krishna River and Somasila Dam across Penna River with 400 km canal as part of national river linking program. With help from the Indian Government, AP Govt can construct a new canal up to Somasila Dam as per DPR of Indian Rivers Inter-link program specifications.[9] Thus the Godavari River water will travel up to Somasila Dam and then Swarnamukhi in Chittoor district via existing Somasila Swarnamukhi link canal. GoAP can also provide water to Tamil Nadu with this Godavari water and retained water in Krishna River (15 TMC allocation of Krishna water to Telugu Ganga) will be used for other projects in Rayalaseema region.[citation needed]

In the future, a large new dam named Palnadu Sagar across a hill range near Bollapalle[10] with 700 TMC capacity reservoir is possible using of flood water of Krishna River and Godavari River diverted with this lift project. It will submerge nearly 300Sq KM of land at FRL 260m MSL.Palnadu Sagar spillway with Francis Turbine will take and release water into Nagarjuna Sagar right canal along with Hydroelectricity power generation. Flood water of Krishna River will be pumped to Palnadu Sagar. The water stored in Palnadu Sagar will be used for irrigation and drinking in drought years.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ ilyas, md (11 October 2016). "New barrage on Krishna river: Vastu favours Vykuntapuram". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  2. ^ Srinivas, Rajulapudi (14 February 2019). "Naidu lays foundation stone for barrage across Krishna". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  3. ^ Amaravati Capital Updates (17 February 2019), Vykuntapuram Barrage in Krishna River Amaravati || New Barrage in Amaravati, retrieved 18 February 2019
  4. ^ Akbar, Syed (25 November 2018). "Godavari-Penna rivers interlinking: Naidu to lay stone for the mega project on November 26". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ Jonathan, P. Samuel (26 November 2018). "Naidu lays stone for Godavari-Penna linking project". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  6. ^ "Srisailam Project". krmb.cgg.gov.in. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Nagarjunasagar Dam". krmb.cgg.gov.in. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  8. ^ "K.L. Rao Sagar Pulichintala Project". irrigationap.cgg.gov.in. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Feasibility Report of Nagarjunasagar Somasila Link Project :: National Water Development Agency". nwda.gov.in. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  10. ^ Jonathan, P. Samuel (31 July 2018). "Godavari-Penna interlinkingproject set to take off soon". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 February 2019.

16°35′25″N 80°24′13″E / 16.59028°N 80.40361°E / 16.59028; 80.40361