The water level in the 91 reservoirs across the country stands at an alarming 15 per cent of its total storage capacity for the third consecutive week, after the completion of the first monsoon month of the year.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), however, continues to raise hope and optimism of the nation saying that the country has received 1 per cent rainfall in excess of normal this week and that nearly 49 per cent of the country has received normal rainfall.
As per the data of the Ministry of Water Resources, the present availability of water at 23.94 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM), vis a vis the total storage capacity of 157.799 BCM. This represents 48 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 70 per cent of storage of average of last ten years.
The IMD, however, mentioned of gradual narrowing of deficit, with the first month concluding at 12 per cent less than the average so far. According to weather experts, the pace of monsoon is certainly picking with the last week of month already having received 1 percent above normal. July according to them will witness heavy rainfall.
While the parched reservoirs in the country continue to wait for the monsoons to pick up, the western region happens to be the worst hit. Its live storage in 27 reservoirs is at an all time low with just 2.42 BCM of water, which is at 09 percent of its capacity. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 25 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 22 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs
The reservoirs in the southern region comprising States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, also present a gloomy scenario. Against the total capacity of 51.59 BCM, the actual presence of water is 5.33 BCM which is 10 per cent of total live storage capacity.
The Eastern region including the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura is also reeling under water scarcity. Its 15 reservoirs, having 3.25 BCM of water is barely 17 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
This is followed by the 12 reservoirs in the Central region including the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which has 8.65 BCM of water, which is 20 per cent of total live storage capacity.