Vijayawada, Sept. 9: The Congress government claims to be focused on irrigation projects, but poor water management is compounding the woes of farmers in the Krishna and Godavari delta. Despite the tall claims about irrigation projects, several lakh cusecs of water from Krishna and Godavari rivers is going waste into the sea. At the same time, flooding also occurs, damaging the crops in several hundred acres. The same fields dry up during drought and yearn for water even for a single crop. The Krishna delta is entitled to receive 80 TMC of water from Nagarjuna Sagar dam. This will irrigate 12-13 lakh acres in the delta, but the release of water depends solely on the rains in the upstream Karnataka region. "When there is a dire need there is no water and when the delta is flooded, there is no storage facility available in the lower basin of the Krishna River ," said Mr Yerneni Nagendranath, state president of Rythanga Samakhya. "Much of the water flows into the sea." According to the district irrigation department, 1,225 TMC water was discharged into the sea from Krishna River in 2005-06, 968 TMC in 2006-07 and 907 TMC in 2007-08. "For the last four years the basin received good rainfall and we have been discharging surplus waters into the Bay of Bengal ," said the Superintending Engineer of Irrigation, Mr Tatineni Sivaji. "This year, we have released 125 TMC of flood water so far." Both farmers and irrigation experts are vexed at how this water can be used and stored for the future. Experts say the 80 km run off to the sea from Prakasam Barrage cannot be brought under a dam. "We have to opt for smaller lift irrigation schemes in the downstream as the lands are on a higher plane," said the agriculture expert and former Rajya Sabha member, Mr Yelamanchili Sivaji. With lack of assured water, the delta farmers are dependent on rains. Earlier they used to cultivate three crops in a year but now they find it difficult to cultivate even a single crop. "Farmers are cultivating paddy only in four lakh acres during Rabi, which is only one third of total irrigated ayacut," said Mr Nagendranath. The government has taken up the Pulichintala Project with a storage capacity of 45 TMC to utilise the flood waters of Musi rivulet. But Pulichintala is also banking on the water from two more streams-Chandra Vagu and Halia, and chances of getting surplus water from Halia are very low. The other alternative is the diversion of Godavari water to the Lower Krishna basin. A linkage canal from Polavaram project can bring flood flow to Krishna , joining the river in the upstream of the Prakasam barrage. "When it happens, the two upper riparian states Karnataka and Maharastra will also claim their share of water from the Krishna ," said Mr Sivaji. Below the Nagarjuna Sagar Project, the Krishna river flows through