Water storage level of 91 major reservoirs of the country goes down by two percent

NEW DELHI: The water level has gone down to 39 percent of their total capacity from 41 percent last week in the 91 major reservoirs across the country. As of February 15, there was 63.597 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water in these reservoirs. The latest levels in the reservoirs are 88% of the storage reported in the corresponding period last year. It is also 91% of the average storage over the last decade, the Union Water Resources Ministry said in a statement.

The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM which is about 63% of the total storage capacity of 257.812 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country. 37 Reservoirs out of these 91 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.

REGION WISE STORAGE STATUS:-

NORTHERN REGION: The northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. There are six reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.60 BCM which is 37% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 34% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 38% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

EASTERN REGION: The Eastern region includes States of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura. There are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 11.48 BCM which is 61% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 68% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 55% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year but is better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

WESTERN REGION: The Western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 13.21 BCM which is 42% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 51% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 46% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

CENTRAL REGION: The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 12 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 16.28 BCM which is 38% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 59% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 43% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

SOUTHERN REGION: The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are 31 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 16.04 BCM which is 31% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 24% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 39% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. States having equal storage than last year for corresponding period is Andhra Pradesh. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.