Water level of 91 major reservoirs in India goes down by 2%

New Delhi: The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on January 19 was 82.915 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM), which is 53% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This was 126%of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 99% of storage of average of last ten years, said the union ministry of water resources in a release.

The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.799 BCM which is about 62% of the total storage capacity of 253.388 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.

Water storage in the northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. There are 6 reservoirs under Central Water Commission (CWC) monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.28 BCM which is 40% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 47%.

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 14.00 BCM which is 74% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 55% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 61% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.  

The western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 27.07 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 17.55 BCM which is 65% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 37%.

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 28.50 BCM which is 67% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 53% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 48% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, (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 15.59 BCM which is 30% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 28% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 51% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.  

States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.