All eyes on July as reservoir levels dip

With June recording deficit rainfall till now, levels in the reservoirs have started dipping drastically across the country. While snowfed r...

With June recording deficit rainfall till now, levels in the reservoirs have started dipping drastically across the country. While snowfed reservoirs in the Ganga and Indus basins are looking good, rainfed reservoirs like those in the Narmada and Sabarmati basins are near empty.

‘‘The departure from normal storage (in these reservoirs) is more than 50 pc. The Indus basin is still good,’’ said a Central Water Commission official. Sabarmati has 5.124 billion cubic metre (BCM) live capacity of water at Full Reservoir Level (FRL), while it’s 0.735 BCM in Sabarmati.

A look at the overall figures reveal that the reservoir levels, which were higher this year during the pre-monsoon phase, are lower compared to last year. The total live storage in 76 prime reservoirs is 14.4 BCM, while it was 16.53 BCM for the same period last year.

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The July rainfall is now critical for farmers. ‘‘This year, June is a problem. But it’s July that is crucial. If in the mid-crop period the farmer is left with no water, there will be a crisis,’’ said a met official.

The government today asked farmers to adopt a ‘‘wait and watch’’ policy till July, reiterating that there’s no reason to panic over kharif production.

Senior officials of the Agriculture Ministry said after a weekly meeting of crop and weather watch group that the situation was akin to that in 2003 when monsoon was delayed but satisfactory.

Tomorrow, a presentation on monsoon will be made before Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

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The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting has said the current spell of good rain is likely to last for the next four to five days. ‘‘The situation is improving. Some cyclonic circulation is over Gujarat coast. But in the coming three to four days over eastern India is not very encouraging,’’ said a Met official.

‘‘The problem area is going to be central and eastern India,’’ he added.

Agriculture experts say this delay in monsoon can be managed. ‘‘But in some parts this is causing concern,’’ said L.S. Rathore of the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting.

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