Comments
The intense monsoon rains that lashed the country in recent days may have caused untold misery in many States, but they have also improved the live storage of water in key reservoirs.
As on Thursday, 107 Central Water Commission (CWC) monitored reservoirs in the country have a cumulative water storage of 121.87 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is 21 per cent more than the corresponding week last year, according to official data released on Thursday.
Rabi output seen rising
The improved water storage promises a better rabi crop this year. The situation has improved substantially over the last three weeks. The total storage on August 1 was only 54.26 BCM, or 33 per cent of live storage capacity.
On Thursday, the total storage stood at 73 per cent of the total live storage capacity, as against 61 per cent in the corresponding week last year. Reservoirs in all major regions, barring the eastern region, have more water than they had in the same week last year.
Water levels in reservoirs in all the major river basins, including Ganga, Indus, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Mahanadi, were better than normal on Thursday. Only the Indus and Narmada basins had better storage levels on August 1. The only basin that continues to have a deficit is Sabarmati.
Most agriculturally-important States, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Rajasthan have better storage compared to the same period last year. Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are among the States with lower storage levels than last year.
Out of 107 reservoirs, 14 are 100 per cent full, 20 are between 91-99 per cent and another 12 water bodies are 81 to 90 per cent filled, the data showed.
While Rajasthan’s reservoirs are at 95 per cent of live capacity as against 56 per cent in the same period last year, Karnataka was at 91 per cent (88 per cent y-o-y), Punjab at 89 per cent (69 per cent), Madhya Pradesh at 82 per cent (53 per cent, Maharashtra at 77 per cent (67 per cent) and Gujarat at 70 per cent (27 per cent).
On the other hand, storage levels continue to be poor in Telangana: 20 per cent (66 per cent); Andhra Pradesh: 22 per cent (22 per cent); and Uttar Pradesh: 31 per cent (41 per cent).
Out of 39 reservoirs with significant hydropower generation, 29 have a better or similar storage build-up as compared to the same week last year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.