Improvement in water level in reservoirs due to heavy monsoon rains
12-Jul-2024 01:29 PM
New Delhi. Due to increased activity of southwest monsoon and more than normal rainfall during the current month, the water level in 150 major dams and reservoirs of the country improved for the second consecutive week.
In June, monsoon rain was 11 percent less than the normal average, while by July 11, this deficiency reduced to 2 percent.
The intensity, speed and movement of monsoon fluctuates. Even now, heavy rains are occurring in many states of the country, while a large amount of water is also being released from the neighboring country Nepal.
There are chances of heavy rains in the central and northwestern parts of the country. The Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rains in some other states along with Maharashtra and Karnataka.
With the help of good monsoon rains, the water level (water reservoir) in dams improved in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Maharashtra, but on the other hand, the water level decreased in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.
It is worth noting that paddy is cultivated on a large scale in all these states. According to the latest weekly bulletin of the Central Water Commission, the level of water relative to the total storage capacity in 150 major dams and reservoirs of the country increased from 22 percent last week to 26 percent in the current week and its quantity reached 46,311 billion cubic meters (BCM).
The total storage capacity is 178.784 BCM. Out of these 150 reservoirs, the water reserve in 131 remains below 50 percent of the total capacity. Last week, the number of such reservoirs was 136. Similarly, less than 40 percent water reserve is left in 112 reservoirs.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), out of the 724 districts of the country from which data is collected, the level of rainfall is still low or very low in 36 percent of the districts. Last week, lack of rainfall was estimated in 38 percent of the districts.
The rainfall deficit in the eastern and north-eastern regions of the country has now reduced to 5 percent and in the central region to 7 percent.