In what appears to be a sign of things to come this summer, the water level at Almatti dam has already reached dead storage level.

Traditionally, the reservoir witnesses depletion of water to dead storage level only in May, but this year the level has gone down in the second week on March itself.

Besides insufficient rain and evaporation of water due to heat, water release from the dam to Maharashtra through Narayanapura dam has also added to the problem.

According to an agreement between Maharashtra and Karnataka, both the States have to release 2 tmcft of water to meet the drinking water demand. While Maharashtra released water last year to Krishna, Karnataka now is releasing the same quantum of water to Maharashtra to provide drinking water to Solapur district.

Almatti dam now has around 17 tmcft of water. However, officials of Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Ltd. believe this would be sufficient to meet the drinking water demand as the water could be used only for that purpose, not for irrigation.

“This water is enough to supply [drinking water] till June, by when monsoon will arrive,” an official said.

Of the total reservoir height of 519 metres, the water level is now at 506 metres. The storage capacity of Almatti dam is 123 tmcft.