Water storage level of 91 major reservoirs of the country goes up by eight percent

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NEW DELHI: Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation issued a report on water storage level on July 19. The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on July 19, 2018 was 52.355 BCM which is 32 per cent of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 24 per cent for the week ending on July 12, 2018. The level of water storage in the week ending on July 19, 2018 was 125 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 116 per cent of storage of average of last ten years.

The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM which is about 63 per cent 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 3.66 BCM which is 20 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 43 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 39 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also 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 4.23 BCM which is 22 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 24 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 23 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less 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 7.89 BCM which is 25 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 26 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 24 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year but is better 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 12.06 BCM which is 29 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 32 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 28 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year but is better 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 24.52 BCM which is 48 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 16 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 28 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

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