PATTISEEMA LIFT IRRIGATION A HYDRAULIC WONDER: A CASE STUDY IN INTERLINKING RIVERS

River linking in India has been a much discussed and debated issue but without any credible initiative and inspiration. Many commissions discussed the concept and left it there itself without translating it into execution and results. The inspiring initiative of Andhra Pradesh government to link its two major rivers Godavari and Krishna through a project called Pattiseema lift irrigation project the First success has been recorded in this arena. Every year about 2500 to 3000 TMC of water of Godavaririver is going in to the Sea from Dowleswaram Barrage as surplus. Though the Polavaram dam has been planned as a long-term initiative to utilize this water that is going to sea, the immediate water needs of the state necessitated a timely solution. Necessity is the mother of invention. By utilizing the existing Polavaram Canal infrastructure, and by lifting water from River Godavari (to the extent of 80 to100 TMC) as the completion of Polavaram Dam would take some more years, engineers proactively designed the Pattiseema Lift scheme so as to reap the early benefits of Polavaram Infrastructure. Pattiseema Lift Scheme is designed to lift 8500 Cusecs of water from River Godavari with 24 Nos of Pumps/Motors. Each Pump discharging 354 Cusecs. The project was commenced within no time and was completed within a period of one year where all the government machinery worked round the clock to make it happen. When the Godavari river water joined the water of river Krishna, a joy of people knew no bounds. Not only it was the first river linking project but also was completed in record time for which it found its rightful place in Guinness book of world records.