KARNATAKA MYSURU 25/06/2025: Water discharged from KRS dam in Mandya district on Wednesday with the water-level nearing the full-reservoir mark following a sharp rise in inflow due to heavy rains in its catchment areas. Photo M A Sriram
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TH
The storage level in India’s 161 major reservoirs increased by nearly five percentage points this week as the country has received 9 per cent surplus rainfall so far under the south-west monsoon.
The monsoon, which took a 20-day break after setting in early on May 23 this year, revived last week bringing copious rains across the country. However, key agricultural regions such as Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Marathwada, Vidharbha, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are rain-deficient as of June 26. This is because there has been a problem with spatial distribution of rain.
According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), the storage in the 161 major reservoirs increased to 36.42 per cent of the 182.444 billion cubic metres (BCM) capacity at 66.449 BCM. Last week, the level was 31.81 per cent. This storage is over 75 percentage points higher than last year and 53 percentage more than normal (last 10 years).
Up in all regions
The level in all the five regions increased this week with the lone reservoir in Goa filled fully, besides two others — Sapua in Odisha and Shetrunji in Gujarat. The current storage situation augurs well for the ongoing kharif sowing.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the overall acreage under all kharif crops increased by 10 per cent to 137.84 lakh hectares (lh) as of June 20 against 124.88 lh a year ago
The CWC’s weekly bulletin on the storage status in the major reservoirs showed that the level in the 11 reservoirs of the North increased to nearly 30 per cent of the 19.836 BCM capacity at 5.928 BCM. The level in Punjab was unchanged, but it increased in Himachal and Rajasthan to 17.73 per cent and 56.81 per cent, respectively.
In the eastern region, the level in the 27 reservoirs increased to 6.696 BCM or 30.93 per cent of the 21.724 BCM capacity. The storage in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura continued above 50 per cent of the capacity, while it was below 30 per cent in Bihar and Odisha.
Poised to rise further
In the western region, the storage in the 50 reservoirs was up at 39 per cent of the 37.357 BCM at 14.554 BCM. Apart from Goa, the level in Maharashtra increased to 44.35 per cent but dropped in Gujarat to 32.43 per cent.
The 28 reservoirs in the central region witnessed an improvement in their storage to 29.44 per cent or 14.303 BCM of the 48.588 BCM capacity. In Madhya Pradesh, the level was up at 33 per cent, while it was 26.49 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 23.92 per cent in Chhattisgarh and 14.78 per cent in Uttarakhand.
The southern region’s 45 reservoirs were filled to 45.45 per cent of the 54.939 BCM at 24.968 BCM. Tamil Nadu storage level was 84.61 per cent and in Kerala it was up at 53.30 per cent. In Andhra, it improved to 32 per cent, in Telangana to 32.5 per cent and in Karnataka to 48.48 per cent.
The reservoir storage will likely improve further next week with the India Meteorological Department forecasting rain under the influence of a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.
Published on June 26, 2025
