Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today commissioned the Pattiseema lift irrigation project that seeks to divert surplus Godavari water to the Krishna river, thereby interlinking both the rivers.

By switching on heavy duty pumps, about 700 cusecs of water was released from Godavari would flow into the Krishna at Ibrahimpatnam located near Vijayawada.

The government aims to pump about 80 TMC of water by deploying 24 heavy duty pumps from Godavari at the Pattiseema pump house during monsoons and let out the water into the Polavaram right canal.

The water from the canal will flow down into the Krishna and fill up the Krishna barrage near Vijayawada and be used for farm operations in Krishna and Godavari districts and drinking water requirements.

The lift irrigation project not only harnesses surplus Godavari water, (which normally flows down into the sea untapped), by pumping it to Krishna river system. Apart from meeting the water requirements earlier met by Krishna river, water from Krishna will now be used to serve the Rayalaseema area.

After commissioning this project today, Naidu said the completion of the project vindicates his strong resolve to inter-link rivers. The water to be released from the Pattiseema lift project will be gradually increased as the water flow increases.

The Pattiseema project has been described as a river link project by the Naidu government aimed at balancing the water resources in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the State.

In addition to the larger Polavaram project, which the State plans to take up, it is also considering linking the Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers.

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