The CWC bulletin highlights that the overall stock situation in the country is better than in the corresponding period last year. Image: Wikimedia Commons
The Central Water Commission (CWC) has reported a significant improvement in the water levels of India's reservoirs this year. The current water level exceeds the ten-year average by 14 percent.
According to the latest Reservoir Storage Bulletin, the available storage capacity in 150 major reservoirs across the country is 124.016 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is 69 per cent of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This represents a significant increase over the corresponding period last year when the storage capacity was 111.85 BCM.
Current storage also exceeds the ten-year average, the so-called “normal storage,” which was 108.79 billion cubic meters.
Regionally, storage levels vary in different parts of the country. In the northern region, which includes Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, storage levels are at 51 percent of total capacity, down from last year's 88 percent and below the normal storage levels of 71 percent.
In contrast, the eastern region, which includes Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Nagaland and Bihar, is seeing an improvement, with storage capacity utilisation at 53 per cent, up from 38 per cent last year and above the normal level of 50 per cent.
The western region, which includes Gujarat and Maharashtra, also saw a positive trend, with 72 percent of total capacity filled, compared to 68 percent in the same period last year and 61 percent of normal storage capacity.
Similarly, the Central region, which includes Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, reported a storage capacity of 72 percent, an improvement over the previous year's figure of 69 percent and the normal level of 62 percent.
The southern region, which includes Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, is characterized by the highest storage levels. Reservoirs in this region are filled to 79 percent of their capacity, a sharp increase from 53 percent last year and much above the normal storage level of 60 percent.
The CWC bulletin highlights that the overall inventory situation in the country is better than the corresponding period last year and than the normal inventory levels for this time of year.
The data shows that water resource management efforts have resulted in improved water storage in most regions, although some states such as Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have reported lower storage levels than last year.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 20, 2024 | 6:09 p.m. IS
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