Water in India's 150 reservoirs dip to 20% of live storage capacity: CWC

Water available in the 150 main reservoirs across the country has dipped to just 20 per cent of their total live storage capacity, according to the Central Water Commission.

For the past two weeks, the reservoirs were at 21 per cent of their total live storage capacity and the week before that it was 22 per cent.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has reported a significant drop in live storage levels across 150 major reservoirs in India.

According to the latest CWC bulletin, the total live storage available is 36.368 billion cubic meters (BCM) which is just 20 per cent of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

This is a significant decrease from 46.369 billion cubic meters (BCM) recorded during the same period last year and also below the normal storage of 42.645 BCM.

The total live storage capacity of these reservoirs is 178.784 BCM, which is about 69.35 per cent of the estimated total live storage capacity of 257.812 BCM in the country.

The northern region, comprising Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan, has a total live storage capacity of 19.663 BCM in 10 reservoirs. Currently, the storage level there is 5.239 BCM or 27 per cent of the capacity.

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

The current storage level is 3.643 BCM or 17.83 per cent of the capacity, slightly less than the 17.84 per cent recorded last year.

The western region, comprising Gujarat and Maharashtra, has 49 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 37.130 BCM. However, the current storage is 7.471 BCM, or 20.12 per cent of the capacity.

The central region, which includes Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, has a total live storage capacity of 48.227 BCM across 26 reservoirs. The current storage level is 11.693 BCM, or 24 per cent of the capacity.

On the other hand, the southern region, covering Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, has a total live storage capacity of 53.334 BCM in 42 reservoirs. The current storage is 8.322 BCM, or 16 per cent of the capacity, down from 20 per cent last year.

The CWC's bulletin indicates a mixed scenario across various river basins. Better than normal storage is observed in the Sabarmati, Tapi, Narmada and Brahmaputra basins while close to normal storage is seen in the Ganga, Indus, Mahi, and Godavari basins, among others.

However, several basins, including the Krishna, Brahmani and Baitarni, Mahanadi and Cauvery are experiencing deficient storage.