Water storage level of 91 major reservoirs of the country goes down by two percent

New Delhi,

The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on January 25, 2018 was 73.029 BCM which is 45% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 47 for the week ending on January 18, 2018. The level of water storage in the week ending on January 25, 2018 was 91% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 91% of storage of average of last ten years.

The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM which is about 63% of the total storage capacity of 257.812 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country. 37 Reservoirs out of these 91 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.

REGION WISE STORAGE STATUS:-

NORTHERN REGION

The northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. There are 6 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.91 BCM which is 44% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 39% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 45% 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.

EASTERN REGION

The Eastern region includes States of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura. There are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 12.56 BCM which is 67% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 73% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 61% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year but is 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 total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 14.70 BCM which is 47% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 55% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 51% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less 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 total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 18.34 BCM which is 43% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 65% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 49% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less 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 19.53 BCM which is 38% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 29% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 46% 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 Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.