The Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir in Karnataka has practically no water it is shown as having 0% of its capacity and the Tungabhadra (also in Karnataka), Tehri (Uttarakhand) and Pong dam (Himachal) reservoirs have only 6 per cent, 1 per cent and 5 per cent of their capacities. At this time last year, thanks to an early monsoon, the Krishnaraja Sagar was 41 per cent full, and Tungabhadra, Tehri and Pong were at 17 per cent, 15 per cent and 22 per cent of capacity levels.

The overall picture is grim: as many as 21 of the 81 reservoirs are just 5 per cent or less full. The total live storage as of date is 14.184 billion cubic metres (BCM) just 9 per cent of the capacity at full reservoir levels (FRL). This is substantially lower than last year's 21 per cent, and even the 10-year average of 14 per cent.

Thirteen reservoirs have no live storage; last year, there were just two such reservoirs. Another 27 reservoirs are at less than half of the average storage for the past decade.

Source: The Indian Express Reservoirs running dry, half of last year's levels