Centre issues Drought Advisory

The Centre has issued a drought advisory to the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu since the water storage in dams dropped to a critical level.

Drought Advisory

The advisory is issued to States when the water level in reservoirs is 20% less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years. The advisory recommends States to use water for drinking purpose only till the dams are replenished.

Water Reservoir Levels

• The western region includes Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are 27 reservoirs in the region under Central Water Commission (CWC) monitoring of which 10 in Gujarat and 17 in Maharashtra have a total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM.
• The total live storage available in these reservoirs was 4.10 BCM which is 13% of total live storage capacity.
• The live water storage during the corresponding period of last year was 18% and the average storage of the last 10 years was 22%.
• The southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• The 31 reservoirs in the southern region under CWC monitoring have a total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM.
• The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 6.86 BCM, which is 13% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
• The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 13% and the average storage of the last ten years during the corresponding period was 16%.

El-Nino along with the delay in the arrival of monsoon has worsened the situation and has led to the water availability crisis.