The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on August 24, 2017 was 79.925 BCM which is 51% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 48 for the week ending on August 17, 2017. The level of August 24, 2017 was 78% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 81% 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 14.78 BCM which is 82% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 72% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 74% 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.
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 9.98 BCM which is 53% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 63% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 54% 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.
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 16.39 BCM which is 61% 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 64% 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 22.33 BCM which is 53% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 82% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 62% 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 16.44 BCM which is 32% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 44% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 62% 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 Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal and Tripura. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Samir/jk