Paani Paani re...
While we are worrying about vegetables and fruits getting costly as summer approaches and CPI going up, worrying whether RBI will reduce rates or not, a more basic and fundamental need of our lives is under threat – water. We wondered whether the Govt will manage the supply chain despite drought in most parts of the country. But what we all forgot or rather chose to ignore was the shortage of water.
Those living in non-Metros are already reeling under major water cuts. And we will only have to brace for more cuts as summer has just started. With 2 more months to go before rains even begin to make an appearance, the data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) is very grim. It monitors live storage status of 91 reservoirs of the country on weekly basis and is issuing weekly bulletin on every Thursday. As per the latest, issued on 10th March, out of the 91 reservoirs, 37 reservoirs have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. The total live storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.799 BCM which is about 62% of the live storage capacity of 253.388 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country.
As per reservoir storage bulletin dated 10.03.2016, live storage available in these reservoirs is 45.801 BCM, which is 29% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. This storage is 71% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 74% of storage of average of last ten years. The picture gets grimmer - the overall storage position is less than the corresponding period of last year in the country as a whole and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.
Tripura is the only place in India where there is a surplus, that too of 320%; the rest of the country is all in negative. Andhra and Telangana are the worst hit with storage in a deficit of 81%, followed by Maharashtra at -57%. Uttarakhand is at -46%, Tamil Nadu at -42%, Gujarat at -39%.
So as Holi comes calling, please refrain from wasting water; that is, if you have water in your taps!
