Amid rains, water level in India's main reservoirs rise for first time since Sep 2023

New Delhi: Amid heavy rains across India, the water level of the country's main reservoirs has risen for the first time since September last year, the Central Water Commission (CWC) said.

Despite the marginal rise of 2 per cent from the previous week, this marks a departure from the consistent week-on-week decline reported since the bulletin issued on September 29, 2023, when the storage capacity stood at 73 per cent, according to the analysis of the data.

This improvement comes amid widespread rainfall across the country.

The CWC, which monitors the live storage status of 150 reservoirs across India, released its latest bulletin detailing these developments on July 4.

The CWC issues a weekly bulletin every Thursday, providing updates on the status of these reservoirs.

According to the bulletin, out of the 150 reservoirs, 20 are dedicated to hydroelectric projects, with a total live storage capacity of 35.30 billion cubic meters (BCM).

The CWC bulletin on July 4 said the live storage available in these reservoirs was 39.729 BCM, which is 22 per cent of their total live storage capacity.

In comparison, the live storage available during the corresponding period last year was 50.422 BCM, with a normal storage level of 44.06 BCM.

This indicates that the current live storage is 79 per cent of last year's corresponding period and 90 per cent of the normal storage level, the CWC said.

The northern region, comprising Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan, has 10 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 19.663 BCM.

The current storage is 5.39 BCM (27 per cent), compared to 45 per cent during the same period last year and a normal storage level of 31 per cent.

The eastern region, including Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Nagaland, and Bihar, has 23 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 20.430 BCM.

The current storage stands at 3.979 BCM (19 per cent), down from 20 per cent last year and a normal level of 23 per cent.

The western region, which includes Gujarat and Maharashtra, has 49 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 37.130 BCM. The storage is now at 7.949 BCM (21 per cent), compared to 27 per cent last year and a normal storage level of 22 per cent.

The central region, comprising Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, has 26 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 48.227 BCM.

The current storage is 12.26 BCM (25 per cent), compared to 35 per cent last year and a normal storage level of 26 per cent.

The southern region, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, has 42 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 53.334 BCM.

The storage is now at 10.152 BCM (19.03 per cent), down from 19.43 per cent last year and a normal level of 24 per cent.

The bulletin highlighted several key points -- Normal storage is defined as the average storage of the last 10 years.

The overall storage position is less than both the corresponding period last year and the normal storage during the same period.

Better-than-normal storage is observed in regions such as Brahmaputra, Sabarmati, and the West Flowing Rivers from Tadri to Kanyakumari. Close to normal storage is found in the Indus, Subarnarekha, Mahi, and other rivers.

Deficient storage is reported in the Mahanadi, Cauvery, Brahmani and Baitarni rivers. Highly deficient storage is seen in the East Flowing rivers between Pennar and Kanyakumari and other similar regions.

In terms of specific reservoir data, 56 reservoirs have storage levels higher than last year, and 61 have more than the normal storage level.

Conversely, 14 reservoirs have storage levels less than or equal to 20 per cent compared to last year, and eight reservoirs are similarly low compared to the normal storage.

Furthermore, 40 reservoirs have storage levels less than or equal to 50 per cent of last year, with 29 reservoirs similarly low compared to the normal storage level.

States with better storage than last year include Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Kerala. There are no states with equal storage to last year.

States with lesser storage than last year include Rajasthan, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

According to the CWC's analysis, the total live storage available in the country is estimated to be 57.290 BCM against the total capacity of 257.812 BCM.