According to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level of the country’s 150 main reservoirs has dropped to 23 percent, which is 77 percent lower than the levels at this time last year.
The current storage is only 77 percent of last year’s levels and 94 percent of the normal storage, as stated by the CWC. In its latest weekly bulletin released on Friday, the commission reported that “the total live storage available is 41.705 billion cubic metres (BCM), equating to 23 percent of the total capacity.”
“This represents a significant decrease from the 53.832 BCM recorded during the same period last year and the normal storage level of 44.511 BCM. Consequently, the current storage is only 77 percent of last year’s levels and 94 percent of the normal storage,” the commission added.
The 150 main reservoirs monitored by the CWC have a combined live storage capacity of 178.784 BCM, approximately 69.35 percent of the total storage capacity created in the country.
Ten of these reservoirs are located in the northern region—Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan—with a live storage capacity of 19.663 BCM. This has dropped to 5.864 BCM (30 percent of total capacity), according to the CWC bulletin for the week of May 16 to May 31. Last year, during the same period, storage was at 38 percent. The normal storage at this time of year is 31 percent.
In the eastern region—Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Nagaland, and Bihar—there are 23 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 20.430 BCM. The available storage is 5.645 BCM, or 28 percent of the total capacity, the commission reported. Last year, it was 25 percent. The normal storage is 26 percent.
In the western region—Gujarat and Maharashtra—there are 49 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 37.130 BCM. The current live storage is 8.833 BCM, or 24 percent of the total capacity, a decrease from last year’s 28 percent but an improvement over the normal storage of 23 percent.
The central region—Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh—has 26 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 48.227 BCM. The current storage is 14.046 BCM, or 29.1 percent of the total capacity. Last year, the storage was 37 percent. The normal storage is 29.4 percent. Thus, the current 29.1 percent is below both last year’s level and the normal level.
In the southern region—Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu—there are 42 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 53.334 BCM. The available storage is 7.317 BCM, or 14 percent of the total capacity, significantly lower than last year’s 24 percent and the normal storage of 19 percent.
The report highlights that better than normal storage is available in the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Brahmani and Baitarni, Narmada, Tapi, and Sabarmati basins.
