The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on May 25, 2017 was 35.053 BCM, which is 22% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 23 for the week ending on May 18, 2017. The level of May 25, 2017 was 127% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 104% of storage of average of last ten years.  

              The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.799 BCM which is about 62% of the total storage capacity of 253.388 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 six reservoirs under Central Water Commission (CWC) monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 4.36 BCM which is 24% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 22% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 28% 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 5.66 BCM which is 30% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 23% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 19% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and is also 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 27.07 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.87 BCM which is 25% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 14% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 25% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the storage of last year and is equal to 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. As per Reservoir Storage Bulletin dated 25.05.2017, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 14.25 BCM which is 34% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 23% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 18% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the storage of last year and is also better 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. As per Reservoir Storage Bulletin dated 25.05.2017, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 3.92 BCM which is 8 % of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 11% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 170/o of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than
the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana. States having equal storage than last year for corresponding period are AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states). States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

Samir/jk