New Delhi, Jun 11 (KNN)  In the midst of sweltering heat and power cuts across major parts of India, the Central Water Commission today provided a glimpse of hope stating that the live storage position in 85 important reservoirs as on June-5 this year is better than last year.
 
“Live storage available in 85 important reservoirs spread all over the country as on June 05, 2014 was 42.148 BCM which is 27 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. This storage is 133 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 157 per cent of storage of average of last ten years. The present storage position during current year is better than storage position of last year and average storage of last ten years,” said an official notification from the Ministry of Water Resources.
 
Central Water Commission monitors storage position of 85 important reservoirs spread all over the country, of which as many as 37 reservoirs are having significant hydro-power benefits with installed capacities of more than 60 MW each. The total live storage capacity of these reservoirs is 155.046 BCM which is about 61 per cent of the live storage capacity of 253.388 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country.
 
Here is the region wise storage status:
 
Northern Region:  The northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. There are 6 reservoirs in this region having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.82 BCM which is 38 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 31 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 25 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
 
Eastern Region:  The Eastern region includes States of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura. There are 15 reservoirs in this region having total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.44 BCM which is 34 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 22 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 14 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
 
Western Region: The Western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 22 reservoirs in this region having total live storage capacity of 24.54 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.67 BCM which is 27 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 23 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 21 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.  Thus, storage during current year is better than storage of last year and average storage of last ten years.
 
Central Region:  The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 12 reservoirs in this region having total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 15.15 BCM which is 36 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 25 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 13 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than storage of last year and average storage of last ten years.
 
Southern Region:  The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are 30 reservoirs in this region having total live storage capacity of 51.37 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.07 BCM which is 14 per cent of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 11 per cent and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 18 per cent of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is better than the corresponding period of last year and less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.  (KNN Bureau)