Water storage in the country’s reservoirs surges

New Delhi, July 26: With monsoon rain sets in, water storage level in the week ending on July 26, 2018 was 113 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 116 per cent of storage of average of the last ten years.

The total storage capacity of 91 major reservoirs of the country 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.

The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs for the week ending on July 26, 2018 was 63.333 BCM which is 41 per cent of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 32 for the week ending on July 19, 2018.

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

Northern states like 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 4.66 BCM which is 26 per cent of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 52 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 45 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

In the southern region with states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, 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 29.79 BCM which is 58 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The storage during corresponding period of last year was 25 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 35 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.

In states like 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 7.11 BCM which is 38 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The storage during corresponding period of last year was 42 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 31 per cent 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.

There are 27 reservoirs in Gujarat and Maharashtra under CWC monitoring with total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 10.20 BCM which is 33 per cent total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The storage during corresponding period of last year was 39 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 32 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.

In states like 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 14.58 BCM which is 34 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

The storage during corresponding period of last year was 39 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 36 per 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.