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Despite decent rainfall in the third week of July, the condition of India’s reservoirs remains worrisome. During the week of July 16-22, the country recorded almost normal rainfall, and the deficiency was only one per cent. However, from June 1 to July 25, rainfall has been 15 per cent less than normal.
According to the latest Central Water Commission (CWC) Bulletin, the live water storage available in 166 major reservoirs is about 36 per cent less than last year and is still below normal levels.
As on July 23, a total of 70.432 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water was available in 166 reservoirs, which is 38.37 per cent of their total live storage capacity.
The storage available in these reservoirs at this time last year was 110.519 BCM, against the normal storage of 75.661 BCM. That is, the current storage is only 63.73 per cent of the storage of last year and 93.09 per cent of the normal storage of last year.
This is despite the fact that India received 66.8 mm rainfall in the week of July 16-22, which is only 1 per cent less than the normal of 67.3 mm, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
However, rainfall for the entire monsoon season so far (June 1-July 25) still remains 15 per cent below normal. According to IMD, in the third week of July, central India received 10 per cent more rainfall than normal and northwest India 5 per cent more than normal, while south peninsular India recorded a deficiency of 26 per cent.
Region-wise data shows that the situation is currently worst in South India. The 47 major reservoirs of the region have water up to only 30.26 per cent capacity. This is significantly lower than both last year’s 69.43 per cent and the normal 44.18 per cent. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in particular are experiencing ‘moderate’ shortfall in reservoirs. The storage of reservoirs in Telangana is 57 per cent less than normal.
The reservoirs in the northern region are filled up to only 35.58 per cent of their total capacity, while the reservoirs in Central India have 39.11 per cent water. The storage in both regions is below the previous year’s and normal levels. The situation in the eastern region is better than normal, but the storage there too is less than last year. Only the western region (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa) has better storage than normal, though that too has not reached last year’s level.
According to CWC, 54 of 166 reservoirs have storage at or below 80 per cent of normal. Of these, 22 reservoirs have half or less water left than normal. These include important water bodies like Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar, Tungabhadra, Krishnaraja Sagar, Periyar, Tawa, Vaigai, Aliyar, Singur and Maudaha.
This year, the distribution of the southwest monsoon has been very uneven. In June, there was a 40 per cent deficiency in rainfall across India. Despite good rainfall in the third week of July, the gap could not be fully filled. Many catchment areas still received less rainfall than normal, while in some places there was excessive rainfall in a short period, causing water to flow out rapidly and reservoirs could not collect the required amount.
Apart from this, continuous release of water for irrigation, drinking water, industries and hydropower generation is also putting pressure on storage. CWC has also clarified in the bulletin that the storage of reservoirs is continuously decreasing due to utilisation.
