Water Crisis Looms Large Over South India: Reservoir Levels Plummet to 17%

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 27th April. A grave water crisis threatens the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu as reservoir levels dip to a mere 17% of their total capacity, according to the latest bulletin released by the Central Water Commission (CWC).

The bulletin revealed that the 42 reservoirs under CWC surveillance in the southern region, with a combined live storage capacity of 53.334 billion cubic meters (BCM), currently hold only 8.865 BCM of water.

Comparatively, this level is significantly lower than the storage recorded during the same period last year (29%) and the ten-year average (23%).

The diminishing water reserves pose severe challenges for irrigation, drinking water supply, and hydroelectric power generation in the affected states.

Conversely, the eastern region, including states like Assam, Odisha, and West Bengal, has shown improvement in water storage levels compared to previous years. The 23 monitored reservoirs in this region, with a total capacity of 20.430 BCM, currently hold 7.889 BCM of water, representing 39% of their total capacity.

However, the situation remains concerning in other parts of the country. The western region, comprising Gujarat and Maharashtra, reports storage levels of 11.771 BCM, amounting to 31.7% of the total capacity of 49 monitored reservoirs, indicating a decline compared to previous years.

Similar declines are observed in the northern and central regions, highlighting the widespread nature of the water crisis across India.

The bulletin categorizes reservoir storage across various river basins as “better than normal,” “close to normal,” “deficient,” or “highly deficient.” Notably, river basins like Brahmaputra, Narmada, and Tapi are marked as having better-than-normal storage levels, while basins like Cauvery and east flowing rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar are classified as highly deficient.