South India's major dams facing danger low water levels -

Why in recent news?

The southern region encompassing states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and 

Tamil Nadu. Has significantly reduced water storage compared to historical average at 17% reservoir capacities, according to the recent bulletin of the Central Water Commission (CWC).

In the bulletin released by the Central Water Commission (CWC) concerning reservoir storage level across various regions of India. It was reported that 42 reservoir under Central Water Commission (CWC) monitoring in the Southern region have a total live storeage capacoty 53,334 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM). As per the latest report the total live storage available in these reservoir stands at 8.865 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) representing only 17% of their total capacity. this figure is considerably lower  conpared to the storage levels during the same period last year 29% and the ten year average for the corresponding period (23%)

Why it matters?

The reduced storage levels in the Southern region are indicative of worsening water scarcity and potential challenges for irrigation drinking water supply, and hydroelectric power generation in these states.

What about other states?

In contrast, the eastern rregion comprising states like Assam, Odisha, and West Bengal, has shown a positive improvement in water storage levels, compared to last year & the 10 year average. The bulletin highlighter that in this region 23 monitored reservoirs with a total life storage capacity of 20,430 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) currently hold 7.889 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) of water representing 39% of their total capacity. This marks an improvement over the storage levels from the same period last year (34%) and the 10 year average (34%). The situation is less optimistic in other regions. The western regions consisting of Gujarat & Maharashtra reports storage levels of 11.77% Billion Cubic Meters (BCM), which is 31.7% of the total capacity of 49 monitored reservoirs. This is notably lower compared to the storage levels of the previous year (38%) of the year average (32.1%). Similarly the northern and central regions also show declines in water storage levels compared to historical averages. The broader analysis provided in the bulletin categories reservoirs storage across various river basin as better than normal, close to normal, deficient or highly deficient.

Reasons behind the crisis in Southern India.

The Southwest monsoon season (June-September) which is critical for rainfall in the Southern States, saw an 8% shortfall in comparison to the long term average in 2023, according to Business Insider. The region also had a 13% rainfall deficit from (October-December) during the winter monsoon season. South India's reservoir levels have been negatively impacted by these ongoing deficits as well as this yeear's low, rainfall as per the report. The closure of the networks and excessive ground water pumping in recent years have made this worse for urban centres in the region, such as Bengaluru & Hyderabad.

What's next?

Pre monsoon & monsoon rains are expected to replenish water resources, therefore even with the currrent storage several state administration guarantee the public will have enough water until June. El-Nino transition to neutral and impending La-Nina event point to average to above normal monsoon rainfall according to reports.

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