Central Water Commission (CWC) and Reservoir Monitoring
The Central Water Commission is a statutory body established in 1945 under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation). Originally part of the Central Water and Power Commission, it was bifurcated in 1974 when the Ministry of Irrigation and Power was split, with CWC taking over the water mandate and the Central Electricity Authority the power mandate. CWC is India's premier technical organisation in the field of water resources development and management.
- CWC monitors the live storage of 166 major reservoirs weekly and publishes a "Reservoir Level and Storage Bulletin" every Thursday.
- These 166 reservoirs have a combined live storage capacity of approximately 183 BCM, representing about 65% of the country's total estimated live storage capacity.
- CWC classifies the country into five hydrological storage regions for reporting: Northern, Eastern, Western, Central, and Southern.
- CWC functions under Section 3 of the River Boards Act, 1956, though the River Boards Act itself has never been fully operationalised for inter-state rivers.
● Tracked since April 17, 2026 · last seen May 21, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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