CHANDIGARH: The water level in the reservoirs of the northern region are at lower level as compared to last year due to deficient monsoon in catchment area of reservoirs.

The reservoir level of Bhakra , Pong and Ranjit Sagar Dam are lower by 60 feet,42 feet and 34 feet respectively compared to last year on corresponding day. At Tehri Dam water level is lower by 11 feet compared to last year.

The northern region states have  six reservoirs under Central Water Commission  monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 7.27BCM which is 40% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 75% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 60% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

At Gobind Sagar  reservoir of Bhakra Dam the water level on Friday was 1592.97 feet against last year’s level of 1652.95 while at Pong Dam water level is 1332.15 feet against last year’s level of 1374.17 feet .Both these dams and power houses are under the control of BBMB. At Ranjit Sagar Dam the water level is 1628.38 feet against last level of 1716.46 feet on corresponding day.

Meanwhile BBMB has asked partner states to conserve and utilise monsoon water to the maximum possible extent so that water releases from the Bhakra and Pong reservoirs are minimised so as to store water for utilisation during the coming depletion period starting September 21.

The low water levels are attributed to  occurrence of around 11% deficient monsoon in catchment area of Satluj and Beas river in Himachal and normal rains in Punjab.

However , the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on August 09, 2018 was 77.554BCM which is 48% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs. The level of water storage in the week ending on August 09, 2018 was 105% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 98% of storage of average of last ten years.