El Niño appears to be tightening its grip on Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, with the hill shrine’s water reserves estimated to be sufficient for barely 90 days, prompting the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to impose stringent curbs on water consumption across the pilgrim town.

Despite having five drinking water reservoirs, the temple town is grappling with mounting water stress because erratic monsoon showers have failed to replenish its storage to the required levels. Rising daytime temperatures, deficient rainfall and an unusually sustained influx of pilgrims have further compounded the crisis, placing the hill town’s water management system under considerable strain.

The pressure is particularly pronounced because the pilgrim town, renowned for drawing massive daily pilgrim footfalls, has been witnessing heavy crowds since the beginning of the year, rather than the usual concentration of visitors during weekends and holidays. The sustained demand has accelerated the depletion of water reserves, forcing the temple administration to ration supplies to conserve the available stock.

The TTD Water Works Department has already initiated a series of austerity measures, restricting water supply to hotels, commercial establishments, private religious institutions and choultries in the town. Supply to these establishments has been curtailed to a few hours a day because the authorities are seeking to prioritise pilgrim requirements and stretch the dwindling reserves.

The scale of the challenge is evident from the town’s daily consumption of nearly 60 lakh gallons of water. The hill town accommodates around 7,500 cottages and guest houses, five sprawling Pilgrim Amenities Complexes (PACs) and scores of public toilets, all of which require a substantial and uninterrupted supply of water to cater to the needs of visiting devotees.

Of the daily requirement, approximately 30 lakh gallons are drawn from the Kalyani Dam in Tirupati, while the Papavinasanam and Gogarbham dams contribute about 15 lakh gallons each. The reserves in Kumaradhara, Pasupudhara and Akasa Ganga have already hit the bottom, and the administration is increasingly dependent on supplies from the Papavinasanam and Gogarbham reservoirs.

Despite the precarious situation, officials remain hopeful that the ensuing northeast monsoon will bring substantial relief. Tirumala traditionally receives a significant share of its annual rainfall during the October-to-early-December period, making the approaching monsoon crucial to replenishing its depleted water resources.

Past rainfall patterns, too, offer some grounds for optimism, with the northeast monsoon accounting for a major portion of the region’s precipitation. But the extent of relief will depend on the intensity and distribution of the showers and the consequent inflows into the reservoirs.

Should the monsoon fail to deliver the anticipated rainfall, the authorities have another option in reserve. Telugu Ganga waters can be pumped up to the town, as was done in the past. The arrangement was subsequently kept in abeyance after the Kalyani Dam recorded adequate storage.

For now, the TTD’s immediate challenge is to conserve every available drop while ensuring that the lakhs of devotees who visit the hill shrine continue to receive essential amenities. The reserves reportedly offer a cushion of only three months, and the coming monsoon could prove decisive in determining whether Tirumala can avert a more severe water crisis.