Water level dips in country's 91 major reservoirs

The water level in 91 major reservoirs of the country has dipped by one per cent, the Water Resources Ministry said in a release on Friday.

For the week ending November 24, only 105.209 billion cubic metres (BCM) water is available in these reservoirs, which is 67 per cent of the total 157.799 BCM storage capacity of these reservoirs, the ministry said.

The states that have less water storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the ministry data revealed.

States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Uttarakhand is the only state having equal storage to last year for corresponding period, according to the release.

Region wise, in the northern region, which has six reservoirs under the Central Water Commission (CWC), storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period.

In rest of the regions -- eastern, western, central and southern -- storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year.

--IANS

mak/sm/vt