Bengaluru, Jun 23 (IANS): Heavy rains in the Krishna river's catchment area in neighbouring Maharashtra led to heavy inflows into north Karnataka, raising water level in the Almatti dam in Vijayapura district, an official said on Monday.

"The Nisarga cyclone and an active southwest monsoon since the first week of this month led to incessant rains in the catchment area of the Krishna river and their inflows raising the water level into the Almatti dam," an official of the state Water Resources Department told IANS.

Though monsoon rains are yet to reach the state's northern region, the heavy inflows from across the state led to around 16 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water collecting in the dam during the last 5 days, with 5.4 tmcft of it on Sunday.

"The heavy inflows during the first month of the monsoon season augurs well as they reached 513.40 metres by Sunday and will enable it to reach its maximum level of 519.60 metres by September when rains recede," said the official.

Named after late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Almatti dam in the lower riparian region is the lifeline for 5-6 districts in the state's north, as hydro power is generated and its water is used for irrigating agri fields and drinking purpose.

As the main reservoir of the upper Krishna irrigation project, the dam stores water to generate 290 MW power for the state electric grid. Water released from the dam flows into the Narayanpur reservoir in the downstream for irrigation in Raichur, Yadgir and Kalaburagi districts in the Deccan region.