New Delhi: Erratic June rains lead to reservoirs with less water than last 10 years’ average. With the month of June witnessing erratic rainfall resulting in many states receiving deficit rains from the southwest monsoon, over 30 large reservoirs across India have not just lesser water compared to last year, but far less compared to the average of last 10 years.
The Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors 143 reservoirs on a weekly basis. The total live storage as on June 30 was 48.951 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is 86 per cent of last year’s storage and 118 per cent of the average of the last 10 years at the corresponding time. There are six reservoirs that have no live storage.
“The rainfall in June was erratic and the progress was slow. Twice there was a break when there was no advance in the monsoon. However, the last week of June more than compensated with heavy rainfall in the the catchments of most of the reservoirs,” said an official from the agency under the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed that Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and the UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra, Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Ladakh, received deficit rainfall.
As per the CWC, in the northern region, three reservoirs in Himachal Pradesh have more water compared to last year but as much as minus 38 per cent compared to the average of last 10 years. Punjab’s lone reservoir too has a similar story, almost the same quantity of water compared to last year but as much as 37 per cent less compared to the last 10 years’ average.
In the eastern region, six reservoirs in Jharkhand have minus 19 per cent of last 10 years’ average while 10 reservoirs in Odisha have minus 39 per cent of last 10 years’ average water quantity.
In the Central region, Uttarakhand’s three reservoirs have minus 21 per cent less water compared to last 10 years’ average while for eight reservoirs in Uttar Pradesh and four in Chhattisgarh, it is minus 8 per cent of the last 10 years’ average.
Surprisingly, Gujarat and Maharashtra, which were in red (minus 30 and minus 54 per cent deficit) when it came to rainfall for the month of June, had only slightly less water compared to last year but far more than the average of the last 10 years.
None of the reservoirs in the southern region are showing any deficit, not even Kerala that had minus 52 per cent deficit as on June 30.
“Rangawan in Uttar Pradesh, Nanak Sagar in Uttarakhand, Mulshi and Bheema in Maharashtra, Watrak in Gujarat and Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh are the reservoirs that had no live storage as of June 30,” said an official of the CWC.
