Hyderabad, July 30: As if the delay in monsoons was not enough, the irrigation department has decided to postpone release of water from Nagarjunasagar reservoir to crops in about 22 lakh acres in five districts Earlier, the state government had announced that water would be released for Nagarjunasagar left and right canal areas from August 1. Usually, water is released from this huge reservoir in July, but this year it was postponed because it had only meagre reserves. At present, the water level has plummeted below the 540 ft mark. "We can't release water at this level," said a senior irrigation official. "At present, the water level is only 534.5 ft and the left and right canals can be fed only at 560 ft." Further downstream, thousands of cusecs of water is flooding into the sea while the major upstream reservoirs are almost empty. Tributaries of Munneru, Budameru drain, Palair, Wyara canal and Buddavagu tributaries are in spate following recent rains and water is flowing above crest at Prakasam barrage. Ten gates were lifted to release 12,274 cusecs water into sea on Wednesday.Similar is the situation in Godavari basin too. While Sriramsagar, the lifeline of Telangana region, has almost dried up with no inflows into the reservoir, the river is in spate at Dowlaishwaram barrage.