New Delhi, June 19 As India grapples with the shortage of rainfall and a heat wave as predicted by the weather department, data from the Central Water Commission on reservoir water levels shows that water storage in all the dams in the country has cumulatively dropped to a level six per cent below last years record high.
However, no large impact of this on Kharif crops is anticipated at present, as the stored water is still much above the 10-year average, said experts.
According to the Central Water Commission, out of 146, 18 reservoirs are of hydro-electric projects having a total live storage capacity of 34.960 BCM.
"The total live storage capacity of 146 reservoirs is 178.185 BCM which is about 69.11 per cent of the live storage capacity of 257.812 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country," as per data released last week on Thursday.
The live storage available in these reservoirs is 47.994 BCM, which is 27 per cent of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. However, last year the live storage available in these reservoirs for the corresponding period was 51.265 BCM and the average of the last 10 years live storage was 39.838 BCM.
"Thus, the live storage available in 146 reservoirs is 94 per cent of the live storage of the corresponding period of last year and 120 per cent of storage of the average of the last ten years. The overall storage position is less than the corresponding period of last year in the country as a whole but is better than the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period," the data stated.
The northern region includes the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan and there are 10 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having a total live storage capacity of 19.663 BCM.
As per reservoir storage on June 15, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.712 BCM which is 39 per cent of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. "The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 25 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 30 per cent of 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 the last ten years during the corresponding period," the data stated.
The 21 reservoirs in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Nagaland and Bihar have a total live storage capacity of 20.091 BCM. "The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 3.829 BCM which is 19 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 17 per cent and average storage of the last ten years during corresponding period was 22 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during the current year is better than the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period," the data stated.
However, in the southern region which includes the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, AP&TG (2 combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with 40 reservoirs have live storage capacity of 53.074 BCM.
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