Water reservoirs at 24 percent of capacity in past week

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Water levels in India's main reservoirs in the week to July 10 were at 24 percent of capacity, down 12 percentage points from the year ago, government data showed on Friday.

The latest levels are lower than the 10-year average of 26 percent for the week, and remained at the previous week's level as this year's monsoon rains continued to be weak.

Weak rainfall in India since the start June, when the monsoon season began, has raised concerns of a first drought in five years, although weather experts are hopeful rains will revive in the next week.

Reservoirs are used during the summer if monsoon rains are not enough for planting some crops such as cotton, but primarily they are important for hydropower, which accounts for a quarter of India's generation capacity.

They also provide water later in the year to irrigate winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed.

(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini Menon)