New Delhi: The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on March 20, 2019 was 54.002 BCM, which is 33% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This percentage was at 35% for the week ending on March 14, 2019. The level of water storage in the week ending on March 20, 2019 was 109% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 98% of storage of average of last ten years.
The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM which is about 63% of the total storage capacity of 257.812 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country. 37 Reservoirs out of these 91 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.
REGION WISE STORAGE STATUS:-
NORTHERN REGION
The northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. There are six reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 8.87 BCM which is 49% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 24% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 29% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
EASTERN REGION
The Eastern region includes States of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura. There are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 8.79 BCM which is 47% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 51% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 48% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
WESTERN REGION
The Western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.08 BCM which is 23% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 34% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 36% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
CENTRAL REGION
The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 12 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 16.11 BCM which is 38% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 32% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 37% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the storage of last year and is also better than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
SOUTHERN REGION
The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are 31 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 13.15 BCM which is 25% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 22% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 27% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year but is less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. State having equal storage than last year for corresponding period is Chhattisgarh. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala.