Totladoh is only one-third full

Even though Vidarbha has received 30% above average rainfall so far, Totladoh reservoir, which supplies water to the city and two power stations is only one-third full. The catchment area of the dam lies in Seoni and Chhindwada districts of Madhya Pradesh where the rainfall has not been good so far. Unless the reservoir has satisfactory storage water resources department (WRD) will not release water for the rabi crop for farmers of Nagpur and Bhandara districts.

The storage in Totladoh reservoir on Saturday morning was 358 million cubic metres (mm3) against storage capacity of 1,045 mm3. Last year, the dam had 632 mm3 water, while the five-year average for this date is 554 mm3. While the storage is far from satisfactory, it has improved significantly in the past one week. A week ago the dam had only 193 mm3 water (18.47% full). Kamptee-Khairi, Totladoh's downstream reservoir, is 97% full but the nearby Ramtek reservoir has just 11.2% water.

The storage in most dams of the division is quite satisfactory. The storage in fourteen major irrigation dams of the division is 59.26%. Last year it was 51.77% and in 2008 it was 35.52%. The forty medium-sized reservoirs of the division have 71.66% storage. Fifteen are completely filled up.

Among the major dams, Pothra in Wardha district and Dina in Gadchiroli are full. Itiadoh in Gondia district is 99% full. Last year these dams did not have even 50% storage. Irai, the feeder reservoir of 2,340 MW Chandrapur thermal power station is 85% full. Gosikhurd dam has presently 7% storage. It will increase after WRD closes more gates after August 15.