Monsoon good, but reservoirs still not full

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 5

The Northwest — comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan — has recorded 26 per cent excess rain so far this season, but the water storage levels in key reservoirs continues to be less than the corresponding period last year. The latest government data shows it is even less than the average storage of the past 10 years in the same period.

So far, the country has registered one per cent excess rain and the Northwest five per cent. For the week ending August 3, countrywide rain was six per cent above average.

Government functionaries assure the situation has “improved significantly” and will “further improve” as the season progresses. “Good rains have already resulted in an increase in the level of many reservoirs. They will further increase as it is still time before the four-month season ends,” they say.

From a dismal 15 per cent storage recorded in June-end, the total water storage available in 91 major reservoirs in the country for the week ending August 4 is 71.556 billion cubic meter (BCM) — 45 per cent of their total storage capacity.

The current storage is 96 per cent of that recorded in the corresponding period last year.

In the northern region, which includes six reservoirs of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, the situation is less encouraging. With a total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM, they are currently having a live storage of 8.41 BCM, which is 47 per cent of their total live storage capacity. The storage during corresponding period last year was 80 per cent and average storage in the past 10 years in the same period was 54 per cent.

The IMD has retained its forecast of an above-average monsoon this season, keeping high hopes of good agriculture output, both during summer and winter — factors which would boost income and economy after a dry spell of two years.

Meanwhile, states having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Those with equal storage as compared to last year in the same period are Karnataka and Kerala. The ones with lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.