Coal news and updates

Water storage at important reservoirs falls

September 12: The water storage available at 85 important reservoirs in India stood at 119.785 BCM as on September 11, 2014, down 7% from the level recorded in the corresponding period of 2013, an official release said.

The storage level, which was 77% of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs, was 93% of the storage level of the corresponding period of last year and 108% of the storage level of the average of the last 10 years.

The Central Water Commission monitors live storage status of 85 important reservoirs of the country on a weekly basis.

These reservoirs include 37 reservoirs having hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. The total storage capacity of these reservoirs is 155.046 BCM which is about 61% of the storage capacity of 253.388 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country.

The 6 reservoirs in the northern region, with a storage capacity of 18.01 BCM, had a storage level of 14,868 BCM, down 6% from the previous year’s level.

In the eastern regions, 15 reservoirs with total storage capacity of 18.83 BCM, had storage of 14.12 BCM as on September 11, down 11% compared with the previous year’s level.

The 22 reservoirs in the two western region states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, had a storage available of 19.18 BCM against their capacity of 24.54 BCM.

The 12 reservoirs in the four central states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had a storage level of 34.73 BCM against their capacity of 42.30 BCM.

The 30 reservoirs in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu had a storage level of 36.89 BCM as on September 11 against the storage capacity of 51.37 BCM.

The release said states having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

However, the states having equal storage to last year for corresponding period are Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Karnataka.

States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the release added.