India is facing one of its worst water storage crisis with its 91 large reservoirs currently holding water below one-fourth their total capacity showed the data released by the government on Monday (April 18). "The 91 large reservoirs currently hold only about 35.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of water, that is, about 23 per cent of their total live capacity of 157.799 bcm," it said.
Soaring temperatures across plains have added to the water woes. The Central Water Commission (CWC), an apex body which monitors water availability in these key reservoirs, said in its latest bulletin that the water storage as on April 13 was 67 per cent of the corresponding storage last year. The decline in water level this year can be attributed to the 14 per cent deficit Monsoon rainfall in 2015 and 12 per cent deficit Monsoon rainfall in 2014. Though it is normal for water bodies to deplete sharply in the pre-monsoon summer months, the CWC keeps a close watch on the storage of these reservoirs so that the water can be distributed properly till the country gets Monsoon rain.
As per the data, the 27 reservoirs in the western region are currently filled to just 18 per cent of their capacity while the 31 reservoirs in the south have just 15 per cent water. These reservoirs together had 69.6 bcm of water in the first week of January, filling up 44 per cent of their capacity. But over the last three months this has fallen to their current levels of 23 per cent. Now all depends on the rain gods. If the predictions of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is correct, India is up for a near normal Monsoon this year after two years of successive deficit to below normal rainfall.
In the northern region, that includes states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, there are 6 reservoirs having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 4.15 BCM which is 23 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 35 per cent and the average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 30 per cent of the live storage capacity. "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," a detailed statement issued by the ministry of Water Resources said.
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