The water level in India’s 150 major reservoirs dropped further this week to 71 per cent of the capacity as over 60 per cent of the districts from where data were received received deficient or no rainfall. 

According to the weekly bulletin on live storage issued by Central Water Commission (CWC), storage in the reservoirs dropped to 71 per cent or 126.120 billion cubic metres (BCM) of the 178.784 BCM capacity. This is lower than the 127.591 BCM last week.

The level is 8 percentage points lower than last year and 20 percentage points lower than the last 10 years’ average. Barring the Central region, the level dropped in all other regions this week. 

Good news

The situation in South India has turned grim with the level dropping below 45 per cent. The bulletin said water in the southern region dipped to 23.732 BCM or 44 per cent of the 53.334 BCM capacity. 

The storage improved in Tamil Nadu to 51 per cent lower than normal (-52 per cent last week) and remained at last week’s level of 22 per cent below normal in Kerala. However, the water level dropped in Karnataka to 37 per cent below normal (-35 per cent), in Andhra Pradesh to 57 per cent below normal (-56 per cent) and in Telangana to 34 per cent above normal (40 per cent).

But the good news is that the India Meteorological Department on Thursday said the North-East Monsoon has gained momentum and it may last a week. This may help increase the storage. 

Grim in eastern region

The sharpest drop in storage was in the eastern region with the level declining to 73.82 per cent of the capacity from 76 per cent a week ago. It was still higher than last year’s level. 

The storage in Odisha dropped to 7 per cent below normal (1 per cent), to normal in West Bengal (8%), to 6 per cent below normal in Tripura (11%) but it improved to 5 per cent above normal in Assam (2%).

In the central region, the storage increased to 82.18 per cent or 39.632 BCM of the capacity against 81 per cent last week. The level in Madhya Pradesh increased to 6 per cent above normal (2 per cent), but dropped to 32 per cent below normal in Uttar Pradesh (-31 per cent). In Uttarakhand, it dropped to 10 per cent above normal (10 per cent) and in Chattisgarh to 14 per cent below normal (-12 per cent). 

In the western region comprising Maharashtra and Gujarat, the water level was 32.192 BCM or 87 per cent of the capacity. Storage in Maharashtra dipped further to 5 per cent below normal (-4 per cent) and in Gujarat to 30 per cent above normal (36 per cent).

Key to rabi sowing

The storage dropped a tad in the northern region with the level remaining at last week’s 8 per cent below normal in Punjab and 3 per cent above normal in Rajasthan. In Himachal, it dropped to 3 per cent below normal (0 per cent).

The storage level is the key to rabi crops sowing and production. A low water level will likely affect irrigation of the season’s crop. Such a situation could further compound the woes of the agriculture sector, particularly after kharif crops output has been affected by a deficient south-west monsoon. 

Warm ocean water phenomenon El Nino impacted the south-west monsoon and it is likely to continue through to June 2024. El Nino led to August receiving a 32 per cent deficient rainfall — the lowest in 110 years, while October received the sixth-lowest rainfall since 1901.