The ongoing rains across the country this monsoon is proving to be a boon for all water reservoirs as they filling up fast. However, the reservoirs need more water to be full to their capacity even as total water available in the reservoirs is 114 % more than the last year. According to a Ministry of Water Resources release, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on September 01, 2016 was 105.248 BCM, which is 67% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. The report said this was 114% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 99% of storage of average of last ten years.
The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.799 BCM which is about 62% of the total storage capacity of 253.388 BCM estimated to have been created in the country, PIB says.
Here is the water storage status in different regions of India:
Northern region
In the northern region, which includes Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, there are six reservoirs under CWC monitoring. Their total live storage capacity is 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 13.91 BCM which is 77% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 92% and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period was 79% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
Eastern region
In the Eastern region, which includes Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura, there are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring. Their total live storage capacity is 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 12.49 BCM which is 66% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 57% and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period was 61% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
Western region
The Western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having the total live storage capacity of 27.07 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 20.03 BCM which is 74% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 58% and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period was 69% of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the storage of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
Central region
The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 12 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having the total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 35.94 BCM which is 85% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 76% and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period was 62% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the storage of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
Southern region
The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, AP&TG(Two combined projects in both states) Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are 31 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 22.88 BCM which is 44% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 34% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 69% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, AP&TG (Two combined project in both states), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. States having equal storage than last year for corresponding period is Kerala. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu.