Just five per cent water levels increased in reservoirs; Kerala at the lowest

New Delhi: There is a slight improvement in the water levels in reservoirs across the country, though it's still far away from being reassuring.

In the last one week, water levels in 84 important reservoirs in the country has increased by 5 per cent, yet it's still at 55 per cent as compared to last year's storage levels.

The prayers for rain in Karnataka may have been answered with a short spell of rain in Bangalore, but the hope will be that the showers also fill up reservoirs as Karnataka is currently among the states battling the worst reservoir storage levels in the country.

Kerala is the worst affected at -57 per cent. The situation in Karnataka is still worrying with storage levels reflecting a 56 per cent departure from its normal storage level.

As per data compiled by the Central water commission, the decline in storage levels or departure from normal storage in key reservoirs is -53 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, -41 per cent  in Andhra Pradesh, -49 per cent  in Uttar Pradesh, -46 per cent in West Bengal, -44 per cent in Maharashtra and -37 per cent  in Punjab. (Data as on July 26, 2012)

The concern continues to be not just the water levels in the reservoirs but for those states where reservoirs are key for generating power through hydroelectricity, these storage levels came turn out to be a double whammy in the monsoon mayhem.