Reservoirs’ level falls to 31% of capacity

The water level in India’s 150 major reservoirs has further shrunk to 31% of their total capacity, as southern states such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka face a significant shortfall in water storage compared with the previous year and the 10-year average.

Cities like Bengaluru have been grappling with water shortage due to rain deficiency in last year’s monsoon, a decline in reservoir level, and the loss of lakes due to rapid urbanization.

The depleting water level is attributed to lower rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon (which finally ended on Tuesday as per the Australian Bureau of Meteorology), resulting in insufficient rainfall in India, and leading to water scarcity in some regions, besides droughts and prolonged

Cities like Bengaluru have been grappling with water shortages due to deficient rain in the last monsoon

dry periods across Asia.

As many as 21 states in the country have witnessed rain deficiency or no rainfall since March. The country has received 18% below-normal rainfall since March, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

According to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), the available water level this week in these reservoirs was 56.085 billion cubic meter (BCM), 17% lower than the corresponding period last year when it was 67.575 BCM and 3.5% lower than the average of last 10 years (58.166 BCM). The live storage available in 150 reservoirs as of Thursday was 83% of the live storage of the corresponding period of the previous year and 96% of storage of average of the past 10 years.

The weather bureau last month warned that most regions of the country will witness above-normal temperature during April-June.