The cumulative water storage of 248 important dams in Madhya Pradesh stood at 84.1 per cent of capacity on Monday, slightly higher than the level registered on the same date last year in the state which has received above average rainfall so far, officials said on Monday.
The water storage in these reservoirs was 83.8 per cent of their capacity as on August 31 last year, an official of the Water Resources Department said.
The state has so far received 13 per cent more than normal average rainfall (June-August period) with one full monsoon month still to go, a senior meteorologist said.
As on August 31, the total live storage of water in 248 important reservoirs in the state stood at 21,395 million cubic metre (MCM), which was 21,336 MCM on this day last year, Water Resources Department’s Executive Engineer Kamlesh Raikwar told PTI.
The full reservoir level (FRL) of these vital dams put together has a live storage capacity of 25,446 MCM, the official added.
According to Raikwar, four of these reservoirs have zero to 10 per cent water stock, while 132 big dams have 91 to 100 per cent storage.
On the same day last year, eight dams had zero to 10 per cent water while 142 dams had 91 and 100 per cent water storage, he added.
The sluice gates of 16dams are open currently to release excess water and ensure their safety, Raikwar said.
All the 20 gates of the states biggest reservoir, Indira Sagar Dam, are open, he added.
Meanwhile, a senior official with the India Meteorological Department’s Bhopal office, G D Mishra, said Madhya Pradesh has received 13 per cent more than average rainfall so far in the current monsoon.
The state has overall recorded 861.1 mm rainfall since June 1 (average of rainfall across all the districts), higher than the normal average of 763 mm, Mishra said.
He said 21 districts 17 in western MP and four in the eastern region – have recorded more than normal rainfall so far.
Mishra said Dewas district in western MP has received the highest 1109.4 mm rainfall against its normal average of 740.6 mm.
He said Chhatarpur in eastern MP received the lowest 611.3 mm during the period against it normal rainfall of 736.7 mm.
Meanwhile, the IMD on Monday did not issue any fresh alerts after a gap of four days.
An IMD forecast, valid till Tuesday evening, said rain or thunderstorm is likely to occur at a few places in the districts of five divisions, including Bhopal and Indore.
Similar activities might take places at isolated places in the districts of four divisions including Jabalpur, the Met office said.