With mercury level soaring and many States facing drought, water may be more scarce in the coming months. The water level in 91 major reservoirs in the country has dipped to 37.92 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM), which is 24 per cent of their total storage capacity. This was informed by the Ministry of Water Resources on Monday. The figure is 69 per cent of the storage recorded during the corresponding period in 2015, and 77 per cent of storage of the average recorded in the past 10 years.
Of the 91 reservoirs, 37 have hydro-power benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.
As per the official region-wise status, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage reported in the past 10 years.
The six northern reserves in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 4.25 BCM, which is 24 per cent of the total live storage capacity. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 34 per cent and average storage of past 10 years was 30 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
The eastern region, including Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura, with 15 reservoirs at present 6.81 BCM, which is 36 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 48 per cent and average storage of past 10 years was 38 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
The 27 reservoirs in Gujarat and Maharashtra have water upto 20 per cent of its storage capacity at 5.52 BCM. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 38 per cent and average storage of past 10 years was 42 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
The central region, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh having 12 reservoirs has 13.27 BCM of water, which is 31 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with 31 reservoirs has the lowest level of water in the country at 8.08 BCM which is 16 per cent of their storage capacity.
Interestingly, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura have better storage than last year during the same time period.