Water level across major reservoirs down by 1 %

The water level in 91 major reservoirs across India has gone down to 24 per cent of their total storage capacity from 25 per cent last week, the Union Water Resources Ministry said today.

There was 38.989 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water available in the reservoirs till yesterday, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

The latest levels in the reservoirs are 84 per cent of the storage reported in the corresponding period last year, the ministry said. It is also 90 per cent of the decadal average of the storage.

Reservoirs in states such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana have reported lower water levels than last year.

Major dams in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have reported better storage vis-a-vis last year.

The total storage capacity of all the major reservoirs is 161.993 BCM, which is about 63 per cent of the total storage capacity of 257.812 BCM estimated to have been created in the country.

Of the total major reservoirs, 37 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.