Water level in dams drops to “Critical level”; Centre issues drought advisory in 6 states

New Delhi, May 18: As the mercury of thermometer is rising due to scorching heat, the drought is encroaching on all of us. With water storage in dams is dipping to the “critical level”, the Centre has issued a “drought advisory” to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and, Tamil Nadu.

CWC (Central Water Commission) Member, S K Halder said, “the advisory was issued to Tamil Nadu n Friday and similar cautionary letters were sent to Maharastra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana late last week”.

When the water level in reservoirs is 20% less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years, center issues the drought advisory to states. Waterfalls under the state list and the advisory recommends states to use it for drinking purpose only till the dams are restocked.

The CWC monitors water storage available in 91 major reservoirs across the country.

According to the figures released on Thursday, the total water storage available was 35.99 billion cubic meters (BCM), which is 22% of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs. The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM. The figure was at 24% for the week ending on May 9. The situation seems to be grim in western and southern parts of the country.

The western region includes Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs, 10 in Gujarat and 17 in Maharashtra having a total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM under the CWC monitoring.

The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 4.10 BCM until May 16, which is 13% of total live storage capacity. The storage in 27 reservoirs of these two states during the corresponding period of last year was 18% and the average storage of the last 10 years was 22%. The situation in Marathwada is particularly critical where the water level in 45 major dams has hit an alarmingly low level.

The southern region includes states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

There are 31 reservoirs, 2 of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together, Andhra Pradesh (1), Telangana (2), Karnataka (14), Kerala (6) and Tamil Nadu (6) -- under CWC monitoring having a total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM.

CWC said, "The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.86 BCM, which is 13% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 13%and average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 16%”.

The situation seems to be better in the northern region which includes states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan.

The eastern region includes states of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Tripura. There are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having a total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 5.04 BCM which is 27% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.