Amid a comparatively weak monsoon this year, the water storage in Punjab’s major reservoirs — Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar — continues to be below last year’s levels even as the filling season approaches its September 15 end.According to the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the Bhakra reservoir, the main storage facility on the Sutlej, stood at 1,634.22 feet on August 27 compared to 1,671.49 feet on the corresponding date last year — a difference of 37.27 feet.The reservoir held 3.61 billion cubic metres (BCM) of live storage and was 64 per cent full this year, against 5.25 BCM and 93 per cent, respectively, in 2025, as per the BBMB. Another 2.05 BCM of live capacity remained vacant.The Bhakra inflow today was 30,452 cusecs, almost half of 58,997 cusecs recorded on August 27 last year. The cumulative inflow since May 21 stood at 3,108,451 cusecs against 4,336,875 cusecs last year. The release stood at 25,518 cusecs, compared to 43,635 cusecs a year ago. Bhakra’s present level is 45.78 feet below its full reservoir level of 1,680 feet, while it is 172.22 feet above the “minimum down level” of 1,462 feet.Sources in the BBMB said the water level was “comfortable to meet the demands of partner states”. For the past more than a decade, the Bhakra reservoir level never fell below 1,550 feet during the depletion period. The high storage levels had increased the deflection of the dam structure, a situation that would ease if the water level came down from 1,550 feet this year, the sources said.The Pong reservoir is also considerably lower than last year. Its level stood at 1,365.67 feet against 1,393 feet last year, a deficit of 27.33 feet. The live storage was 4.10 BCM (71 per cent) compared to 6 BCM (104 per cent) last year.It had 1.67 BCM of vacant live capacity, as per the BBMB.The inflow difference at Pong is particularly striking. The reservoir was receiving just 22,202 cusecs against an extraordinary 2,28,091 cusecs last year. The cumulative inflow since May 21 was 1,991,940 cusecs, compared to 4,245,214 cusecs last year. The release stood at 16,500 cusecs.The Pandoh reservoir, which feeds the Beas system, too recorded a sharp decline. Its inflow was 14,402 cusecs, compared to 1,03,541 cusecs last year. The downstream Pandoh discharge was 7,504 cusecs, against 1,04,405 cusecs a year ago, while the Bhakra-Sutlej Link project stood at 6,471 cusecs compared to zero last year.Ranjit Sagar Dam on the Ravi presented an equally weak picture. Its level was 514.59 metres (1,688.94 feet), against 526.86 metres (1,728.54 feet) last year, a difference of 12.27 metres (40.26 feet). The inflow was only 7,073 cusecs, against 1,63,037 cusecs last year. The release was 10,738 cusecs, while diversion was 1,694 cusecs, compared to 10,479 cusecs last year.The combined figures point to a substantially weaker monsoon position across the major reservoirs. With filling expected to continue until September 15, the authorities will be hoping for stronger rainfall and catchment inflows during the remaining weeks.