Poor Monsoon Leaves State Reservoirs Thirsty
The worst hit have been reservoirs on the Krishna which on September 30 in 2025 had a combined storage of 583.35 tmc ft, which this year has fallen steeply to 323.37 tmc ft.
Hyderabad:The 2026 monsoon has left major and medium reservoirs in Telangana on the Krishna and Godavari rivers in the red with inadequate inflows thanks to a poor rainy season impacted by a ‘super’ El Nino in the Pacific Ocean.
According to the state irrigation department’s Irrigation Decision Support System, an online river-flow monitoring network, this year, on September 30, the last day of this year’s Southwest Monsoon season, the combined storage in all reservoirs on the two rivers was 503.43 tmc ft, less than half of the 834.92 tmc ft on the same date last year.
Whatever water is now left, officials said, will need to be shepherded till August of 2027, when fresh inflows are expected to begin – provided next year’s monsoon is normal– in the two rivers. Though some rain can be expected in the Northeast Monsoon season, these typically do not occur over the catchment areas of the two rivers in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh, which means that, by the time next summer arrives, the current levels will have depleted further.
The worst hit have been reservoirs on the Krishna which on September 30 in 2025 had a combined storage of 583.35 tmc ft, which this year has fallen steeply to 323.37 tmc ft. For storages on Godavari, the current holdings are at 180.06 tmc ft compared to 251.57 tmc ft last year.
Krishna reservoirs
Year – June 1 – Sept. 30
2025 – 239.95 – 583.35
2026 – 249.49 – 323.37
Last 10 yrs averages
June 1 – 198.68
Sept. 30 – 479.9
Godavari reservoirs
Year – June 1 – Sept. 30
2025 – 101.22 – 251.57
2026 – 99.49 – 180.06
Last 10 yrs averages
June 1 – 110.4
Sept. 30 – 253.64
All storages in tmc ft
