Wednesday to be a red-letter day for Kaleshwaram project

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The 110-metre lift of water makes the Rs 4,961-crore Package 6, one of the highest such irrigation lifts in Asia.

Hyderabad: Wednesday promises to be a red letter day for Telangana State with Irrigation Department officials geared up to switch on two heavy duty pumps at Package 6 of the Rs 85,000-crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) for a test run.

On Tuesday, Irrigation Department officials announced that the water level at the Package 6 surge pool, where the seven pumps are installed, reached 142.30 metres, the same as that in Sripada Yellampalli reservoir from where water flows to the pumps.

 

The first of the two pumps is set to be switched on at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and it will be run for about 20 to 30 minutes. Later, the second pump will also be switched on and the process will be repeated.

Once the pumps attain the required revolutions per minute, the butterfly valve of the pump’s impeller will be opened that will allow water to flow through the spiral casing and the main delivery pipeline. The pipeline opens up into a cistern, 110 metres above the pumps, through which water will flow into the 0.75 TMCft capacity Nandimedaram reservoir.

Highest lift in Asia

The 110-metre lift of water makes the Rs 4,961-crore Package 6, one of the highest such irrigation lifts in Asia. When fully operational, each of the seven pumps will push water through seven cisterns designed and built to withstand the water pressure and located in a stepped pool-like concrete structure to prevent erosion and ensure smooth flow of water into the reservoir.

The surge pool and the pumphouse are located near Shayampet village of Dharmaram mandal in Peddapalli district. Water is received here through gravity from the Sripada Yellampalli project’s foreshore, first through a nearly 2 km-long approach channel and then through a 9 km-long tunnel.

Each of the seven pumps, of which only two are scheduled for a wet run on Wednesday, require 124.5 megawatts of electricity and have a capacity to pump 3,200 cusecs of water.

Irrigation Department officials said every parameter of the pumps’ functioning as well as other aspects of the facility will be monitored thoroughly during the trial run. In the event of any deficiencies being noticed during this phase of testing, they will be rectified, officials said. The preparations are being monitored and checked by Engineer-in-Chief N Vekateswarulu and Advisor to the Government (lift irrigation) Penta Reddy, officials said.