Water Levels Dropped by 23pc in Major Reservoirs: CWC Report

It is 77 percent less at this time compared to last year.

The data also stated that the present storage is just 77 percent of last year’s water levels and 94 percent of the normal water storage.

"The total live storage available is 41.705 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM), equating to 23 percent of the total capacity,” said the commission in its new weekly bulletin released on Friday.

"This is 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 said.

Monitored by the CWC, the main 150 reservoirs have a combined live storage of 178.784 BCM, which is around 69.35 percent of the total storage capacity created in the country.

According to the CWC bulletin for the week of May 13 to May 31, among the 150 reservoirs, 10 are located in the northern regions of the country, in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Punjab and they have a live storage capacity of 19.663 BCM. This has dropped to 5.864 BCM (30 percent of total capacity).

During the corresponding period, last year, the storage was at 38 percent. At this time of the year, the normal storage is at 31 percent.

There are 23 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 20.430 BCM, in the eastern regions of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Odisha, Bihar, and Nagaland. The available storage is 28 percent i.e. 5.645 BCM of the total capacity, according to the commission.

It was 25 percent in the corresponding period of the last year. The normal storage is 25 percent.

In the western region, there are 49 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 37.130 BCM, in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The present live storage is 8.833 BCM, or 24 percent of the total capacity, which is a decline from 28 percent last year but an improvement over the normal storage of 23 percent.

The central region has 26 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 48.227 BCM, in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand.

The total storage available now is 29.1 percent i.e.; 14.046 BCM of the total capacity. The storage was 37 percent, last year. The normal storage is 29.4 percent.

Hence, 29.1 percent currently is below the normal level and below last year.

There are 42 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 53.334 BCM, in the southern regions of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

The available storage is 14 percent i.e., 7.317 BCM. This is drastically lower than the 24 percent of last year and the normal storage of 19 percent.

The Central Water Commission report further demonstrates that the basins of the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Indus, Tapi, Sabarmati, Brahmani, and Baitarani have normal storage. Godavari, Mahanadi, Mahi, Barak, and Subarnekha, as well as the west-flowing rivers of Kutch and Saurashtra, including Luni, and the west-flowing rivers from Tapi to Tadri and Tadri to Kanyakumari, have storage levels that are closer to average.

On the other hand, extremely inadequate storage is observed in the east-flowing rivers between the Mahanadi and Pennar basins, while inadequate storage is reported in the Krishna, east-flowing rivers between Pennar and the Kanyakumari and Cauvery basins.