Water in reservoirs in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh was less than normal
The southwest monsoon may have covered the whole of India, but the level of water in reservoirs remained below normal in five states: Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh.
The gap was the largest in Himachal and Punjab — 54 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, the Central Water Commission (CWC) said July 15, 2021.
The country’s overall storage is also less than the corresponding period last year but is better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period. This is based on the storage data of 130 major reservoirs monitored by CWC.
Live storage available in these reservoirs is 57.628 billion cubic metre (BCM), which is 33 per cent the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs, according to the data.
The northern region has the lowest storage as per its capacity. In its eight reservoirs under CWC monitoring, the total live storage available was 4.09 BCM, which is 21 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
The storage during the corresponding period last year was 41 per cent and the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period was 38 per cent of the live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
Storage in eastern, western, central and southern regions was 31 per cent, 30 per cent, 31 per cent and 42 per cent of their capacities, respectively.
All southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have better storage than last year for the corresponding period. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the storage position was 186 per cent and 261 per cent more than the normal storage.
However, the reservoirs still have capacity to absorb more rainfall.
Stocks are above normal in the basins of the Ganga, Subarnarekha, Tapi, and rivers of Kutch, Godavari, Krishna, Mahanadi and Cauvery. The river basins of Indus, Narmada, and Mahi have deficient reserves.
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