Coal news and updates

Water storage down 30% y-o-y till middle of March

The water storage in major reservoirs of India has fearfully reduced in March compared to last year. The water availability generally comes down in summer but this time it is alarmingly low.  

The water availability in the major 91 reservoirs, monitored by the Central Waterways Commission (CWC), for the week ending on March 17, 2016 stood at 43.39 billion cubic metre (BCM), down 30% from 61.99 BCM recorded in the corresponding period last year

The storage is also 26% down from the average storage level of 58.64 BCM seen over the same period for the last 10 years. It has reduced in all the five regions.
 

In fact, in March 2016, the water storage has been reduced to halve. ICMW had reported on November 5, 2015 that the storage as on, stood at 86.42 BCM.  
 

The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.79 BCM and currently only 27.49% is filled. As many as 37 reservoirs out of these 91 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. 

Northern region

Water storage in the northern region stood at 4.71 BCM, which is 32% of the level seen in the corresponding period of last year and 32% of the average storage of the last 10 years too. As on November 5, 2015, it stood at 13.71 BCM, which is nearly three times higher from the March 2016 level.

There are 6 reservoirs in this region spread over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Eastern Region

In the eastern region, the water storage stood at 7.82 BCM, which is 54% of the level seen in the corresponding period last year. It was also 48% of the average storage of the last 10 years. It came down 58.47% from the November 2015 level of 18.83 BCM.

There are 15 reservoirs in this region spread over Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura.

Western region

Water storage at the western region stood at 6.52 BCM, which is 43% of the corresponding period of last year. It was also 48% of the average storage of last 10 years. There was a fall of 56.53% from the November level of 15.0 BCM.

There are 27 reservoirs in this region spread over Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Central region

In the central region, the water storage, stood at 14.51 BCM, which is 45% of the level seen in the corresponding period of last year. It was also 32% from the average storage of the last ten years.

There are 12 reservoirs in this region spread over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Southern region

Water storage at the southern region stood at 9.83 BCM, which is 30% of the level seen in the corresponding period last year. It was also 33% of the average storage of the last ten years. In the south the drop was 40.56% from the November level of 16.54 BCM.

There are 31 reservoirs in this region spread over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. 

States having better storage than last year’s corresponding period are Andhra Pradesh and Tripura. State having equal storage than last year’s corresponding period is West Bengal. States having lesser storage than last year’s corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, AP&TG (Two combined project in both states), Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.