Science, Technology and Development ISSN : 0950-0707

Problems Involved in the Sustainable Water Supply from Annamayya and Mallemadugu Reservoirs in and Chittoor Districts of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS) Project, , India

R Balaram* Department of Geology Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India *Corresponding Author

S. Ramanaiah Department of Geology Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

R. Jagadiswara Rao Retired Principal and Professor of Geology Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract – This paper describes the Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS) Project under construction since 1988 to import water through Galeru River in Kurnool District to Kadapa and Chittoor Districts, Andhra Pradesh, India by limiting the scope of work to Annamayya Reservoir southeast of Pulangeru River – a tributary of Cheyyeru River in and Mallemadugu Reservoir at Karakambadi village in and the adjoining Tirupati Smart City for sustainable development of water resources of good quality for various uses.

Keywords – Water Supply, Surface Water, Ground Water, Water Supply, Gravity Flow, Pumping, Sustainability, Water Quality, Floods, Droughts.

I. INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION OF GNSS PROJECT

Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) took up the Galeru Nagari Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS) Project as per Government Order (GO) dated 22 Sep 1988 to draw 40 TMCft surplus flood water of Krishna River a year from the foreshore of Srisailam Reservoir during August to November every year through Srisailam Right Bank Canal (SRBC) system up to Gorakallu Reservoir and thereafter through an independent flood flow canal canal together with tunnels to feed several reservoirs en route. The water so stored would be used to irrigate one crop by gravity flow in 1.55 lakh acres in Kadapa District, 1.035 lakh acres in Chittoor District and 1.5 thousand acres in District. As per Government Order (GO) dated 26 Aug 2020, administrative sanction was accorded for over Rs

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10,300 crores for various irrigation projects in Rayalaseema region with lion’s share earmarked to lift water from reservoir to a link canal together with tunnels for flow by gravity till Nagari River (Fig 1). The scope of our work is confined to the existing Annamayya Reservoir (Sagar) and Mallemadugu (Mallimadugu) Reservoir together with the Tirupati Smart City. The masonry dam of Annamayya Medium Irrigation Reservoir was constructed across Cheyyeru River downstream of its confluence with Mandavi River at Badanagadda village in Rajampeta Mandal during 1981-2001 at a cost of Rs. 60.44 crores. It is designed to irrigate 13,000 acres in Khariff, 6,500 acres in Rabi and 3,000 acres for stabilization of wet crops under tanks, besides providing drinking water of 190 mcft of water to 140 habitations in mandal and 100 mcft to 75 habitations in Kodur mandal by seeking funds under Govt of India's Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) for agrarian-distressed districts. The Mallemadugu reservoir was constructed across Rallakalva River with a full reservoir capacity of 505 acres (204.39 ha) and a gross storage capacity of 181 mcft (5.13 million cu m). Its command area is 3954 acres (1600 ha), which includes a direct ayacut of 267 acres (108 ha) and an indirect ayacut of 3687 acres (1492 ha) irrigated by 15 system tanks.

Fig 1: Schematic map showing how the Gandikota reservoir water would be lifted into link canals with tunnels and balancing reservoirs to flow by gravity up to Nagari River.

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ANNAMAYYA PROJECT

Construction of Annamayya Project posed several problems (Sudarsana Raju, 1989, 1995). Although Bairenkonda Quartzite exposed along the dam axis and the spillway provided good stability to the dam, the reservoir could hold no water at all. An investigation revealed that the entire reservoir water was percolating as deep groundwater owing to the leaky nature of the underlying cavernous dolomite limestone and shale. A subsurface dam with diaphragm wall was then constructed along the dam axis and the spillway. By this, the reservoir could be made perennial round the year to some base level. Thus from the historical Google Earth Pro images generated, the reservoir was not seen at all in the imageries captured on or before 31 Dec 2000. Only after the construction of the subsurface dam, the imageries captured on or after 31 Dec 2001 only show the reservoir (Fig 2). Further investigations revealed that there was leakage of water into the underground as deep groundwater through cavernous dolomite limestone and shale (karst formation) occurring in a large area around the reservoir preventing any further rise of water level in the reservoir. As a result, no water flowed in the already constructed Right Main Lined Canal of 23.63 km length from the reservoir. The Cheyyeru Riverbed in the downstream looks dry most of the time but for a minor meandered flow for a few km downstream of the dam. The riverbed both in the upstream and downstream of the Annamayya reservoir looks barren of water exposing mostly dry sand with shallow groundwater flowing beneath the channel emerging as surface water only in the Annamayya reservoir and the downstream Somasila reservoir. Fig 2 is the Google Earth Pro image of the Cheyyeru River as on 7 Apr 2019 showing the dry lined supply channel of the Project with extensive crop growth round the year in and around the command area using deep wells. The cultivators in the region were irrigating the arable land on either side of the Cheyyeru River earlier through spring channels by gravity flow and lift (or doruvu) wells in the riverbed, now replaced by shallow tube wells popularly known as filter points. Although the command area of the Annamayya Project gets no reservoir water through gravity flow, the enterprising cultivators in the region could tap deep groundwater through bore wells constructed by rotary percussion method using Down-The-Hole (DTH) rigs to irrigate their lands round the year. This deep groundwater remained sustainable owing to round-the-clock seepage of Annamayya reservoir water through karst formations.

Fig 2: Google Earth Pro Image of Annamayya Reservoir as on 7 Apr 2019.

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Fig 3 shows how the riverbed downstream of the Annamayya reservoir looks. Although the Bairenkonda Quartzite with shale interactions occurs along the flanks of Annamayya reservoir with hillocks covered with shrubby forest cover, the riverbed is occupied by a thick substrate of crushed stone of various dimensions interspersed by pools of freshwater where fish grow. Under the influence of cyclonic storms in the , there can be cloudburst rains in the catchment generating flash floods for a few days both in the upstream and downstream of the existing reservoirs (Figs 4 and 5).

Fig 3: Photo of Cheyyeru Riverbed downstream of Annamayya Dam

Fig 4: Photo taken on 3 Oct 2020 showing short-duration flood flow along the spillway of the Annamayya Dam.

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Fig 5: Photo taken on 3 Oct 2020 showing -Rajampet Rail Bridge with good water spread shown for short duration in the riverbed serving as a source of recreation.

MALLEMADUGU PROJECT

Mallemadugu reservoir is an existing reservoir in an area of 505 acres (204.39 ha) constructed across the Rallakalva (Rallamadugu) River with a capacity of 181 mcft to irrigate a direct ayacut of 267 acres (108 ha) and an indirect ayacut of 3687 acres (1492 ha) irrigated by 15 system tanks. In order to store and use the GNSS water expected to flow by gravity from Gandikota lift after some years, the Govt of AP approached the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for clearance of 1829 acres (740 hectares) of forestland for a 3-fold increase of the Mallemadugu reservoir’s capacity and construction of a new Balaji Sagar Reservoir of 4 tmcft capacity nearby to provide additional drinking water needs of both Tirupati and Tirumala. After over one decade, the Union Ministry consented to the AP Govt’s proposal and asked to pay compensation of Rs 75 crores (Nethaji, 2019). Once the GNSS water fills these reservoirs to the full, there would be seven-fold increase in water filling up these reservoirs. Mallemadugu reservoir as on now carries very little water as shown in Fig 6. But, when it receives cloudburst rains under the influence of cyclonic depressions in the Bay of Bengal during North East monsoon, it looks as in Fig 7 and soon gets back to its normal condition after inflicting extensive flood disaster of short duration in the downstream.

Fig 6: Nearly Dry Mallemadugu Reservoir bed.

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Fig 7: Heavy outflows to Rallakalva River and Rallamadugu in Yerpedu mandal downstream of Mallemadugu reservoir on 26 Nov 2020 It is pertinent here to mention the media report on the flood disaster caused by this flow in the downstream (New Indian Express, 2020). Three farmers who went to retrieve their motors from the banks of Rallakalva River in spate on the morning of 26 Nov 2020 were washed away to Rallamadugu in Yerpedu Mandal, Chittoor District. Two of them could be rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Personnel in a speed boat accompanied by the Chandragiri MLA and Government Whip Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, who received laurels from the AP Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy (Fig 8). The flood havoc of the type mentioned above in Rallakalva River can get multiplied several times once the Govt of AP executes the requisite works to get the GNSS water to fill these reservoirs in full.

Fig 8: NDRF Personnel taking a speed boat to rescue two of the three farmers washed away in the flood in Rallakalva River in Yerpedu Mandal, Chittoor District on 26 Nov 2020.

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II. STUDIES IN AND AROUND MALLEMADUGU RESERVOIR

The work of Venkateswarlu (2021) and Venkateswarlu et al (2020, 2021) in and around the Mallemadugu reservoir area revealed the various conditions under which surface water and shallow groundwater get contaminated and high-quality deep groundwater gets developed in and around the Tirupati Smart City. Construction of a masonry dam across Kalyani River in 1977 has led to depletion of surface water and shallow groundwater in around the Swarnamukhi water owing to most reservoir water percolating through fracture/fault zones in its bottom to form deep groundwater. The Haritha Project lunched by the Engineering Wing of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) involved massive afforestation and rainwater harvesting all around Tirumala Hills and Tirupati from 1999 to 2002 by way of constructing large number of cement check dams, gabion check dams, rock-fill dams, contour trenches, masonry embankments and percolation tanks. According to AP State Ground Water Department (APSGWD), Haritha Project generates 111.4 mcft per year of additional groundwater in 2000, enhancing to 233 mcft per year in 2001. The major changes brought by this project led the south-flowing streams between the western fringe of the Tirumala Hills abutting Kalyani River to Prakasam Quarters of Sri Venkateswara University percolated as deep groundwater and thereby making the minor-irrigation tanks and ponds fed by them ephemeral to dry. Similarly the south-flowing streams between Kapilatheeertham and Karakambadi village were contributing most of their water into the west-east trending Tirupati-Karakambadi fault zone with overflowing water making the bordering ephemeral minor irrigation tanks till Karakambadi perennial. Because of restricted surface runoff from the east- flowing Avacharikona River from Tirumala Hills, Mallemadugu Reservoir became ephemeral owing to restriction of its surface runoff from rainfall in its northeast catchment. Haritha Project however brought little change to the University watershed with a drainage area of 3.6 sq km, Malavadi Gunta watershed with a drainage area of 4.5 sq km and Kapila watershed with a drainage area of 4.8 sq km. The University watershed being covered by boulders, cobbles, and sand formed by crushing of quartzite overlain by red soil, generates no surface runoff but for spring discharge across which the perennial Manchineella Gunta drinking water pond was constructed by the native artisans, with most rainwater flowing down as deep groundwater. The same is equally true with the Malavadi Gunta watershed generating little surface runoff with most rainwater percolating through deep fault/fracture zones within quartzite to form deep groundwater. The Kapila watershed generates little groundwater with most rainwater flowing as surface runoff with picturesque waterfall under the influence of heavy rains. The TTD constructed Gogarbham, Papavinasanam and Pasupudhara reservoirs in Tirumala to meet Tirumala’s water requirements. As these reservoirs hold water only for a few months after monsoon, it became necessary to pump water from local bore wells, Kalyani Reservoir, , far-off bore wells and tankers. Deep bore wells constructed at proper locations to appropriate depths give so much water of high quality that water problems of Tirumala could be solved permanently in a cost-effective manner.

Fig 9: Google Earth Pro Image as on 7-Mar-2018 Fig 9 is the Google Earth Pro image as on 7 Mar 2018 showing the Tirupati-Karakambadi Fault Zone and the Mallemadugu Reservoir.

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III. LAND IRRIGATED BY VARIOUS SOURCES OF SURFACE- & GROUND-WATERS IN INDIA

Land is irrigated in India using both surface water and groundwater. The sources of surface water irrigation include minor irrigation tanks and spring channels by channelizing spring water by gravity flow. Another important source is canal water drawn from major irrigation reservoirs constructed across rivers and balancing reservoirs constructed across canals. Groundwater once tapped from large-diameter dug wells and dug-cum-bore wells and as shallow tube wells popularly known as filter points is being obtained from deep bore wells since 1961. Only afterwards there has been a steep rise of irrigated land to over 740 lakh acres in 2010-11, while there has been little increase in the irrigated land under other water sources despite heavy governmental expenditure particularly to develop canal irrigation. Fig 10 gives the state-wise gross area irrigated with groundwater/1000 hectares in India to be 1141 ha in Punjab, 582 ha in Uttar Pradesh, 513 ha in Haryana, 295 ha in Delhi, 264 ha in Bihar, 241 ha in Puduchhery, 165 ha in Chhattisgarh, 157 ha in West Bengal, 138 ha in Gujarat, 128 ha in Tamil Nadu, 112 ha in Rajasthan, 108 ha in Maharashtra, 90 ha in Madhya Pradesh, 83 ha in Andhra Pradesh (includes Telangana), 67 ha in , 48 ha in Uttarakhand, 25 ha in Kerala, 21 ha in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, 20 ha in Assam, 19 ha in Jharkhand, 17 ha in Chhattisgarh, 9.9 ha in Orissa, 9.7 ha in Goa, 8.2 ha in Tripura, 4.3 ha in Himachal Pradesh, 1.2 ha in Jammu & Kashmir, 0.33 ha in Meghalaya, 0.15 ha in Nagaland, 0.013 ha in Manipur, 0.005 ha in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and 0.001 ha in Arunachal Pradesh (Jagadiswara Rao, 2009).

Fig 10: The State-wise gross area irrigated with groundwater per 1000 ha in India (Jagadiswara Rao, 2009)

In view of favourable conditions for the sustainable development of deep groundwater all along the region between Annamayya and Mallemadugu reservoirs including Tirupati-Tirumala area that it is worthwhile for the Govt of AP to develop this source at a much lower cost than developing surface water and thereby increase the state’s gross area irrigated area to a significant extent.

IV. USE OF GROUNDWATER OVER SURFACE WATER AS A SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER

The tendency in India is to use surface water as a source of drinking as it has low hardness compared to groundwater and involves less treatment cost. As surface water is in short supply in summer, groundwater is used as a stop-gap arrangement. There is growing tendency all over the world to use deep groundwater as source of drinking as it is

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more sustainable and its treatment cost involving softening water is much less compared to surface water having high turbidity and several other contaminants received from solid waste, agricultural wastes and sewage water.

Finland ranks first in the entire world by having largest number of natural freshwater lakes of high spatial extent in the entire world. Until the beginning of the 20th century, surface water was almost the sole source of drinking water in that country. But with growing realisation that the cost of treatment of groundwater is much less compared to that of surface water, there has been a remarkable increase in the treatment plants using groundwater as a source of water supply (Fig 11). There is need for this realisation to come at least in the study area where there is abundant high- quality deep groundwater.

Fig 11: Year-wise share of groundwater as source of drinking water supply in Finland (Jagadiswara Rao, 2020).

V. CONCLUSION Deep groundwater of high quality occurs in such great amounts all along the area between Annamayya and Mallemadugu reservoirs of the GNSS Project area and the Tirupati-Tirumala area that it could be used to meet both irrigation and drinking water needs in a sustainable way in the shortest possible time using only a fraction of expenditure involved in bringing the GNSS water for the same purposes. Another advantage is that there would be no short duration flood disasters associated with the storage and supply of water from surface water bodies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank Mr. P. Prabhakarababu, retired from the Sri Venkateswara University Office, for technical help throughout the progress of this work.

REFERENCES Jagadiswara Rao, R. (2009) Conjunctive use of surface water and ground water: Lecture delivered at the 23rd Induction Training Program (ITP) for the new appointees of the Central Water Engineering (Group 'A' Services, National Water Academy (NWA), Pune from 11:30 AM to 1 PM on 4 Nov 2009 https://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/conjunctive-use-surface-water-and-ground-water-lecture-delivered-dr-r-jagadiswara-rao.

Jagadiswara Rao, R. (2020) Sustainable development of water resources in Rayalaseema: Presentation made at the 2nd Annual Conference of Rayalaseema Economic Association (REA) at Sri Venkateswara University Senate Hall, Tirupati on 29 Aug 2020.

Nethaji, K. (2019) Balaji Sagar, Mallimadugu get forest land: https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/balaji-sagar-mallimadugu-get-forest-land-547505.

New Indian Express (2020) Three farmers trapped in Rallamadugu project, two rescued: https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra- pradesh/2020/nov/27/three-farmers-trapped-in-rallamadugu-project-two-rescued-2228596.html

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Sudarsana Raju, G. (1989) Land and water resources of Rajampet mandal, Cuddapah district, Andhra Pradesh: M.Phil. Dissertation, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Sudarsana Raju, G. (1995) Land and water Resources of Rajampet taluk, Cuddapah District , Andhra Pradesh, India: Ph.D. thesis, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Venkateswarlu, K. (2021) Ph.D. Synopsis Presentation (Pre Viva) on the Ph.D. Thesis entitled "Environmental Geology in around Tirupati Smart City, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India with Special Reference to Water Resources Development" made at 2:30 PM on 6th Feb 2021.

Venkateswarlu, K., Balaram, R., Ramanaiah, S. and Jagadiswara Rao, R. (2020) Tackling the high water-table problem and development of assured water supply in the Karbonn Mobiles Manufacturing Plant at Tirupati International Airport, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), Vol 7, Issue 12, pp. 1792-1798, Dec 2020 (http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2012129.pdf).

Venkateswarulu, K., Balaram, R., Sankar, D. B., Ramanaiah, S. and Jagadiswara Rao, R. (2021) Changing face of Prakasam pond in relation to water resources’ development in and around Sri Venkateswara University, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol. 8, Issue 1, pp. 792-799, Jan 2021 (http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2101105.pdf).

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