Water storage level of 91 reservoirs in India goes down by 2 percent

The level of water storage in the week ending on May 16, 2019, was 115 percent of the storage of the corresponding period of last year and 105 percent of storage of average of the last ten years.

Water storage level of 91 reservoirs in India goes down by 2 percent

Representational picture

The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on May 16, 2019, was 35.99 Billion Cubic Meters, (BCM) which is 22% of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 24 for the week ending on May 9, 2019. The level of water storage in the week ending on May 16, 2019, was 115% of the storage of the corresponding period of last year and 105% of storage of average of the last ten years.

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 an installed capacity of more than 60 MW.

Region wise status

Northen Region

The northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan. There are six reservoirs under CWC monitoring having a total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 8.54 BCM which is 47% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 16% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 26% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and is also better than the average storage of the 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 a total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 5.04 BCM which is 27% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 30% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 25% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is less than the corresponding period of last year but is better than the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period.

Western Region

The Western region includes the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having the total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 4.10 BCM which is 13% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 18% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 22% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of the 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 a total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 11.44 BCM which is 27% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 25% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 23% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the storage of last year and is also better than the average storage of the 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 a total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.86 BCM which is 13% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 13% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 16% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is equal to the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period.

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