As per available information, storage capacity of about 253 billion cubic meters (BCM) has been created in the country so far. The state wise details of storage created is given below:-Live storage capacity
Sl. No. | STATE/U.T. | Total Live Storage Capacity (BCM) |
1. | ANDAMAN & NICOBAR | 0.019 |
2. | ARUNACHAL PRADESH | 0.000006 |
3. | ANDHRA PRADESH | 28.716 |
4. | ASSAM | 0.012 |
5. | BIHAR | 2.613 |
6. | CHHATTISGARH | 6.736 |
7. | GOA | 0.290 |
8. | GUJARAT | 18.359 |
9. | HIMACHAL PRADESH | 13.792 |
10. | JAMMU AND KASHMIR | 0.029 |
11. | JHARKHAND | 2.436 |
12. | KARNATAKA | 31.896 |
13. | KERALA | 9.768 |
14. | MAHARASHTRA | 37.358 |
15. | MADHYA PRADESH | 33.075 |
16. | MANIPUR | 0.407 |
17. | MEGHALAYA | 0.479 |
18. | NAGALAND | 1.220 |
19. | ORISSA | 23.934 |
20. | PUNJAB | 2.402 |
21. | RAJASTHAN | 9.708 |
22. | SIKKIM | 0.007 |
23. | TAMIL NADU | 7.859 |
24. | TRIPURA | 0.312 |
25. | UTTARAKHAND | 5.670 |
26. | UTTAR PRADESH | 14.263 |
27. | WEST BENGAL | 2.027 |
28. | MIZORAM | 0.000 |
Total | 253.388 |
The per capita water storage capacity in India is about 209 m3. As per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) global information system on water and agricultural AQUASTAT, the per capita storage capacity of some of developed, developing and neighbouring countries are given below:-
Per capita storage capacity
(Cubic meters)
Sl. No. | Name of Countries | Per capita storage capacity |
1. | AUSTRALIA | 3223 |
2. | BANGLADESH | 141 |
3. | BRAZIL | 2632 |
4. | CANADA | 25337 |
5. | CHINA | 416 |
6. | EGYPT | 2073 |
7. | ETHIOPIA | 67.02 |
8. | NORWAY | 8036 |
9. | PAKISTAN | 155.7 |
10. | RUSSIAN FEDERATION | 5686 |
11. | SOUTH AFRICA | 609 |
12. | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | 2192 |
Due to seasonal, geographical and annual variation in availability of water as well as lack of adequate storage, substantial quantity of water, especially during monsoon season, remains unused and flows into sea. As per present assessment, the average annual water availability in the country is 1869 BCM. Further, it has been estimated by Central Water Commission (CWC) in the year 2009 that about 450 BCM of surface water and by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in the year 2009 that about 243 BCM of ground water are being utilized for various purposes. The rest of the water could be considered to be flowing down to sea.
The live storage capacity available in the country at the time of independence was 15.6 BCM. As per a tentative assessment carried out in the CWC, live storage capacity of the completed dams in the country is 253.388 BCM and live storage capacity of dams under construction and under consideration for construction by the respective state governments are 50.959 BCM and 109.673 BCM respectively.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Water Resources & Minority Affairs Shri Vincent H. Pala in a written reply to a question inRajya Sabha