Late monsoon impacts storage position of major reservoirs

New Delhi: Late arrival of monsoon has its impact on the storage position of major reservoirs which is less than what it was last year and also lower than the average storage of last 10 years.

The Central Water Commission on Friday said that the water storage available in 85 important reservoirs of the country as on July 17 was 39.995 billion cubic meters (BCM) which is 26 per cent of total storage capacity of these reservoirs.

This storage is 61 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 87 per cent of storage of average of last 10 years. "The present storage position during current year is less than storage position of last year and also less than the average storage of last 10 years," an official statement said.

Central Water Commission monitors live storage status of 85 important reservoirs of the country on weekly basis. These reservoirs include 37 reservoirs having hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.

Punjab and Chhattisgarh have better storage than last year for corresponding period. States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Commission said.

The crucial Southwest Monsoon has finally covered the whole country reaching west Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch region and the North Arabian Sea after a two-day delay. The Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of north Arabian Sea, Saurashtra and Kutch, Gujarat region and west Rajasthan. Thus, it covered the entire country today," the Indian Meteorological Department had said on Thursday.

But there are problems ahead because of the delay of monsoon in other parts. This year, monsoon has been delayed by two days than its normal date of July 15 on which it usually covers west Rajasthan, the Kutch and Saurashtra regions and the North Arabian sea. However, the weather department maintains that there has been no delay in the monsoon.