For the first time in five months, the storage situation in India’s 150 major reservoirs topped 50 per cent of the capacity with the south-west monsoon beginning to cover more parts of the country, data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) showed.
The major reservoirs are filling up fast with all five regions seeing a sharp rise in the level mainly because of the 3 per cent excess monsoon rainfall. Of the five regions, the southern peninsula and central region have received 27 per cent and 17 per cent excess rain. The easternand north-eastern and the north-west regions received 18 and 13 per cent below normal precipitation.
In its weekly bulletin on the status of the major reservoirs this week, CWC said the level in the 150 was 51 per cent of the 178.784 billion cubic metres (BCM) capacity at 91.496 BCM. In its bulletin on February 29, the CWC said the storage had dropped below 50 per cent of the capacity.
35% rain deficient
Despite the excess precipitation, at least 35 per cent of the 724 districts from where data was received was still rain deficient, IMD said. It is reflected in the CWC data that showed that the storage in 12 States was still below normal.
Though the level in the 10 northern region reservoirs improved this week, the storage in Himachal (-31% below normal), Punjab (-80 per cent) and Rajasthan (-30 per cent) were lower than usual. Barring one, the level in the rest was below 50 per cent of the capacity.
The storage in the region was 33 per cent of the 19.663 BCM capacity at 6.532 BCM. The level in 42 reservoirs of the southern region, which dropped below 15 per cent of the capacity a month ago, increased rapidly to 66 per cent of 53.334 BCM capacity at 35.010 BCM.
The reservoirs common for Andhra and Telangana now have double the normal water, while the deficient in both States have improved to 45 per cent (-52 per cent) and six per cent (-16 per cent) below normal.
Karnataka, TN level
Though Karnataka had 30 per cent above normal storage, it was 5 percentage points lower than last week. The level in Krishnaraja Sagar that was full last week dropped to 94 per cent of the capacity.
But its reservoirs are filled to 77 per cent of the capacity. The level in Kerala (62 per cent of capacity) and Tamil Nadu (90 per cent of capacity) increased with the Mettur and Sholayar dams filled to capacity.
In the 26 reservoirs of the Central region, the storage was 48 per cent of the 48.227 BCM capacity at 23.102 BCM. Though the level dropped to 31 per cent and six per cent below normal in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it improved in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
In the western region’s 49 reservoirs, the storage was 53 per cent of the 37.130 BCM capacity at 19.863 BCM. The level in Gujarat dropped to 4 per cent above normal but improved in Maharashtra to 15 per cent higher than usual.
Set to rise further
In the eastern region, the level in the 23 reservoirs increased to 34 per cent of the 20.430 BCM capacity at 6.989 BCM. The storage in West Bengal was 51 per cent (-47 per cent last week) and Bihar was 67 per cent (-64 per cent) below normal but improved in Odisha to 8 per cent (-31 per cent) lower than usual.
With the India Meteorological Department predicting that the monsoon will cover more areas over the next couple of days and rains lashing many areas in North India, the storage will likely improve in the coming days.