The Central Water Commission (CWC), in its weekly report, has highlighted that reservoirs across the country are dipping towards dangerously low levels.
Four dams in the Bhima basin that supply water to Pune district have slipped to zero per cent storage levels. Other reservoirs with zero per cent storage levels are the Gumti, Kabini, Bhadar, Jayakwadi and Krishnaraja Sagar dams.
The situation is equally alarming in North Gujarat, Kutch and Saurashtra where water levels have plunged to 23, 17 and five per cent of the total storage levels, respectively.
This is the first time in eight decades that water levels in the Krishnaraj Sagar dam have plummeted to such low levels. The present water level is .0709 BCM live storage but within the coming week, the water is expected to reach zero per cent.
Overall, India has 5,187 dams from which 1,843 are located in Maharashtra alone. And with drought affecting one-third of the state, water levels in dams in these areas are also falling.
Mr Rajesh Kumar, a senior official with the ministry of water resources, pointed out that surface water from dams contributed between 25-45 per cent of the water for the integrated water supply of the country. But he emphasised that the CWC’s recent report showed that “the overall position is better than what it was last year”. “There is no point singling out only a few dams,” he said.
Prof. Vikram Soni, water activist, believes the CWC needs to create a strong database to help in monitoring the water situation. “If levels are falling, they need to declare a water emergency and start preparing for it,” Prof. Soni added.
Himanshu Thakkar of the NGO South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People ascribes plunging water levels to a variety of causes. “In Maharashtra, water continues to be diverted from drought prone areas to water rich areas. Dam siltation decreases the holding capacity of a dam and this needs to be worked around. And most important, extraction of high levels of ground water reduces surface water flows and this needs to be given much more attention,” said Mr Thakkar.