After 38 weeks, storage in Indian major reservoirs improves

The storage in the 150 major reservoirs in India increased for the first time in 39 weeks as the deficiency in the south-west monsoon shrunk to 3 per cent from 19 per cent last week.

Heavy rainfall over the past week has resulted in the monsoon covering the entire country six days in advance, besides boosting the reservoirs’ water level. This has helped a 32 per cent increase in the area under kharif crops till now. 

Most of the States have reported an increase in the reservoirs’ storage with the exception of Bihar and Telangana. In Bihar, the below normal level in the lone reservoir increased to 76 per cent from 69 per cent a week ago, while in Telangana, it dropped a tad.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) said in its weekly bulletin on live storage status of 150 reservoirs in the country that the level increased to 22 per cent (20 per cent last week) of the 178.784 billion cubic metres (BCM) capacity at 39.729 BCM. 

121 filled to less than 40%

Of these 150, the level in 136 continues to be below 50 per cent of capacity against 138 last week with the storage in 121 (126 last week) below 40 per cent. Barring the northern region — where the level was unchanged - the situation improved in the other four regions. 

Helping to improve the storage is the deficiency in the monsoon shrinking to 3 per cent of the long period average with the central and eastern-northeastern parts receiving good precipitation over the past week. The situation in the north-west parts is improving, though the rainfall deficiency is currently 14 per cent. 

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), data received from 724 districts show that 38 per cent of them are still rain-deficient. The IMD has forecast rainfall in more parts of the country over the next 4-5 days. 

Though the southern region has received 13 per cent excess rainfall during the current monsoon, the reservoirs’ level in Andhra Pradesh is 76 per cent (78 per cent) lower than normal. 

Rapid rise in Karnataka

In Tamil Nadu, the situation has improved to 40 per cent (48 per cent) lower than normal. The level in Karnataka improved rapidly to 15 per cent (30 per cent) below usual, while in Kerala the storage was 26 per cent (19 per cent) above normal. 

Overall, of the 42 reservoirs in the region, the level was 19 per cent (16 per cent) of the 53.334 BCM capacity at 10.152 BCM with Andhra reservoirs filled up to only 6 per cent of the capacity.

In the 10 reservoirs of the northern region with a capacity of 19.663 BCM, the storage was 5.394 BCM or 27 per cent. In Punjab, the storage is 35 per cent (36 per cent) below normal, while it was unchanged in Rajasthan at 20 per cent lower than usual. 

In the eastern region’s  23 reservoirs, the storage was 19 per cent (17.84 per cent) of the 20.430 BCM capacity at 3.979 BCM. In West Bengal, the reservoirs’ level was 38 per cent (35 per cent) below normal, while in Odisha it improved to 22 per cent (29 per cent) lower than usual.

In the western region, the level in the 49 reservoirs improved a tad to 21 per cent of the 37.130 BCM capacity at  7.949 BCM. While the storage in Gujarat was 12 per cent (14 per cent) above normal, it was 14 per cent (19 per cent) lower than usual in Maharashtra.

In the 26 reservoirs of the central region, the storage was 12.255 or 25 per cent (24 per cent) of the 48.227 BCM capacity. The level improved in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where the storage turned positive.