Water levels less than 25% in many major dams in the south

Water levels less than 25% in many major dams in the south

Subject: Geography

Section: Indian Physical geography

Context:

• Most of the major reservoirs in the southern States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are filled to only 25% of their capacity or less.

Details:

• Some large dams such as the Tungabhadra in Karnataka and the Nagarjuna Sagar on the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border are filled to 5% or less of their full capacity.
• Other large dams such as Mettur in Tamil Nadu and Srisailam on the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border are also filled to less than 30% of their capacity.
• Across India, the current water level in 150 primary reservoirs put together as a share of their total capacity stood at 38%.
• All the reservoirs put together are filled to only 23% of their capacity in this region, which is about 17% points lower than the levels recorded last year and 9 points lower than the 10-year average.
• Status of reservoirs of other region:
  • No other region – central, west, east, or north – shows such a drastic difference in levels compared to last year as well as the 10-year average.
  • In the northern and central regions, the reservoirs are filled to 33% and 46% of their capacities, respectively, similar to the 10-year average levels recorded in those regions.
  • In the western region, the reservoirs are filled to 45% of their capacity, slightly higher than their 10-year average, while the 49% recorded in the eastern region was only marginally lower than the 10-year average.

Some important reservoirs/dams of Southern India: