Vizag water storage plan seeks ₹23,000 crore as data centre demand looms

Visakhapatnam's water storage capacity stands at roughly 32.4 tmc ft, but civic and industrial demand is projected to cross 60 tmc ft within a few years — a gap that has prompted a proposal to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for new reservoir infrastructure costing between ₹15,000 crore and ₹23,000 crore.

The proposal, sent by Vizag Development Council president O. Naresh Kumar, estimates the city's municipal requirement at 40 to 49 crore litres a day (0.014 to 0.017 tmc ft), against a current supply of 33 to 40 crore litres (0.012 to 0.014 tmc ft). Industrial expansion and data centres are expected to push daily needs beyond 150 crore litres (0.053 tmc ft), or more than 60 tmc ft a year.

Existing storage is spread across three sources: Yeleru at 24.11 tmc ft, Raiwada at 3.6 tmc ft and Tatipudi at 3.33 tmc ft. The letter projects long-term civic and industrial demand — driven by data centre and manufacturing expansions of up to 9 GW — as exceeding 60 tmc ft, and calls for new infrastructure to capture allocated monsoon floodwaters.

TDP State president and Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao said he is pursuing the matter directly with the Chief Minister. "Visakhapatnam doesn't have the sufficient storage facility of water for present needs. I agree. We need storage facility for at least 5TMC of water. Our government is successfully working out to procure water from the Godavari river. But, storing the water here is the present task we have to focus. I am personally pursuing this matter with the CM," he said.

The proposed three-part plan begins with restoring the carrying capacity of local water sources through desilting, bund strengthening and real-time monitoring. It also requires expanding the Yeleru reservoir's total capacity to 40 tmc ft — a project needing up to 5,000 acres of land — while building five new 5-tmc-ft balancing reservoirs around Greater Visakhapatnam to meet rising industrial demand.

An irrigation department official said these five structures would require a cumulative land footprint of 10,000 to 12,500 acres, with depths of 20 to 25 metres, backed by dedicated feeder canal networks linked to the Polavaram Left Main Canal. "This infrastructure package will seamlessly capture surplus monsoon floodwaters, prevent runoff waste, and bridge the massive future deficit," the official said.

The push comes as hyperscale data centres, green hydrogen plants and heavy manufacturing units take shape in the region against thin water availability. The coastal belt has also recorded a rainfall deficit exceeding 50% this season. While the Polavaram Left Main Canal is to bring 23.44 tmc ft a year to the district, the absence of adequate intermediate storage means monsoon releases cannot be captured and instead run off to the sea.