As of the CWC bulletin of 6 August 2026, Madhya Pradesh's 12 major reservoirs are holding 40.9% of their combined capacity — the monsoon has finally reached the Narmada catchment, and the state has climbed 11 points in five weeks from the 29.7% we reported in the July edition. Indira Sagar, the largest reservoir in India by capacity, has more than doubled from about 15% to 31.5%. But the refill is running a month late: the same week last year the state was 67.4% full, so Madhya Pradesh is 26.5 points behind 2025 and roughly 32 points below its August average. The live state figure and the dam-by-dam map are on the Madhya Pradesh reservoir levels page. This is the August edition of a monthly check-in, and the story has changed from "empty" to "filling, but far behind".
Key takeaways
- Madhya Pradesh is 40.9% full (6 August 2026), up from 29.7% on 2 July — a gain of 11.2 points in five weeks, and the largest single-week rise of the season came last week (+2.6). The live figure is on the Madhya Pradesh page.
- It is 26.5 points behind last year. On 7 August 2025 the same 12 dams were 67.4% full. The state is filling, but from a much deeper hole and at no faster a pace.
- The Narmada valley is still the shortfall. The five Narmada-basin dams hold 19,505 MCM — 55% of the state's tracked capacity — and are only 26.9% full, against an August average near 76%.
- Indira Sagar doubled, and is still less than half of normal. India's largest reservoir by capacity (431.6 TMC) went from ~15% to 31.5%, against an August average of 76% and 84.2% on the same week in 2025.
- Tawa is the fastest riser and still the emptiest of the giants: +9.9 points in one week, to 23.5% — against an August average of 86%.
- Gandhi Sagar is the only major dam at its normal level (62.3% against a 63% August average) and the only one ahead of last year (+10.8 points). The Chambal is carrying the state again.
- Only one dam is still below 20% — Rangawan at 15.8% — down from five dams below 20% in early July.
Madhya Pradesh reservoir levels, dam by dam (6 August 2026)
Capacity is gross storage capacity, given in TMC (thousand million cubic feet, the unit used in Indian water reporting) and MCM (million cubic metres). "Week" is the change in percentage points since the 30 July bulletin; "August average" is the mean August level on each dam's own chart.
| Dam |
River |
Capacity (TMC) |
Capacity (MCM) |
Fill, 6 Aug |
Week |
August average |
| Indira Sagar |
Narmada |
431.6 |
12,221 |
31.5% |
+5.1 |
76% |
| Gandhi Sagar |
Chambal |
258.6 |
7,322 |
62.3% |
0.0 |
63% |
| Bansagar |
Son |
191.1 |
5,410 |
55.0% |
+1.3 |
79% |
| Bargi (Rani Avantibai Sagar) |
Narmada |
138.5 |
3,921 |
47.0% |
+4.5 |
82% |
| Tawa |
Tawa |
71.1 |
2,014 |
23.5% |
+9.9 |
86% |
| Omkareshwar |
Narmada |
41.3 |
1,170 |
25.1% |
0.0 |
45% |
| Rajghat |
Betwa |
36.8 |
1,043 |
55.5% |
+0.5 |
80% |
| Atal Sagar |
— |
29.5 |
835 |
58.5% |
+0.3 |
63% |
| Sanjay Sarovar |
— |
17.9 |
508 |
56.8% |
+1.3 |
61% |
| Barna |
— |
16.1 |
456 |
38.8% |
−2.2 |
80% |
| Kolar |
Kolar |
6.3 |
179 |
58.1% |
+3.5 |
74% |
| Rangawan |
— |
5.5 |
155 |
15.8% |
+0.7 |
28% |
| State total |
— |
1,244.2 |
35,234 |
40.9% |
+2.6 |
~73% |
Where Madhya Pradesh's reservoir data comes from
The figures here come from the Central Water Commission (CWC), India's national water agency, whose weekly bulletin covers the country's largest reservoirs. reservoirs.earth mirrors that bulletin and keeps each dam's multi-year history; the most recent reading in this snapshot is 6 August 2026, and all 12 of the state's tracked dams reported. The state percentage is capacity-weighted — total water stored divided by total capacity — so the Narmada giants move it far more than the small dams do. India's national water data is harder to access than most countries we track, which is why India scores low on the Reservoir Transparency Index; the CWC bulletin nonetheless covers Madhya Pradesh well, because several of India's biggest dams sit here.
The refill is real — and it is a month late
Read the season week by week and the shape is unmistakable:
| Bulletin |
2 Jul |
9 Jul |
16 Jul |
23 Jul |
30 Jul |
6 Aug |
| Madhya Pradesh, % full |
29.7% |
34.2% |
34.5% |
35.1% |
38.3% |
40.9% |
Two things stand out. First, the state gained almost nothing in the middle of July — 34.2% to 35.1% over two weeks — which is why the July edition described the big dams as "essentially flat". Second, the last two bulletins have been the strongest of the season (+3.2 and +2.6), which matches the national picture in the week of 6 August tracker: the monsoon has moved over central and southern India in earnest.
The problem is arithmetic. Madhya Pradesh needs to add roughly 26 points to match where it stood on this week in 2025, and the monsoon typically withdraws from the state in late September — about seven more bulletins. At the current pace of 2 to 3 points a week that closes maybe two-thirds of the gap. The state is no longer emptying; it is simply going to end the monsoon lower than last year.
The Narmada valley: filling from the bottom
More than half of Madhya Pradesh's tracked storage sits in the Narmada basin, and as a group those five dams are 26.9% full against an August average near 76%. Within that group the behaviour splits three ways:
- Indira Sagar (31.5%, +5.1) — the Narmada Sagar, and the largest reservoir in the country at 431.6 TMC, is finally taking water. It has more than doubled since early July, but it sits 44 points under its August average and 52.7 points under the same week in 2025, when it was 84.2% full. This single dam is the state's shortfall: at 35% of Madhya Pradesh's capacity, nothing else moves the headline as much.
- Tawa (23.5%, +9.9) — the fastest-filling dam in the state this week, and still the emptiest of the majors relative to normal (August average 86%). Tawa irrigates a large command area in the Narmada valley, so its trajectory matters for the rabi season, not just for the headline.
- Bargi (47.0%, +4.5) — near Jabalpur, and the healthiest of the Narmada storages, though still 35 points below its August average. Omkareshwar (25.1%) did not move at all: as a run-of-river dam it passes water through rather than banking it, so read it against its own pattern, not against Indira Sagar.
The Chambal, Son and Betwa are holding the average up
Outside the Narmada, the picture is much closer to normal, and it is why the state figure is 40.9% rather than the high 20s:
- Gandhi Sagar (62.3%) on the Chambal, the state's second-largest reservoir at 258.6 TMC, is essentially at its August average of 63% — and it is the only major dam in Madhya Pradesh ahead of last year, by 10.8 points. It was the bright spot in July and it still is.
- Bansagar (55.0%) on the Son, in the east, supplies a shared irrigation system with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It is comfortable in absolute terms but 24 points under its August average.
- Rajghat (55.5%) on the Betwa and Atal Sagar (58.5%) are steady, and Barna (38.8%) is the only dam in the state that fell this week, by 2.2 points.
- Rangawan (15.8%) is the lowest reading in the state, though its own August average is just 28% — a small dam that normally runs low, so read it against its own chart before calling it a crisis.
Capacity in TMC: how to read these numbers
Indian water reporting measures storage in TMC — one thousand million cubic feet, equal to 28.3168 million cubic metres (MCM). International sources, including most of reservoirs.earth, publish MCM or km³. The table above gives both, so the figures line up with state bulletins and news coverage:
- Indira Sagar: 431.6 TMC gross capacity (12,221 MCM) — the largest in India.
- Gandhi Sagar: 258.6 TMC (7,322 MCM).
- Tawa: 71.1 TMC (2,014 MCM).
- Madhya Pradesh, all 12 tracked dams: 1,244.2 TMC (35,234 MCM).
Two cautions. Gross capacity is not usable water: every dam holds a dead-storage volume below its intakes, and CWC reports live storage against its own live-capacity figure, so a percentage and a volume from different sources will not always reconcile. And a percentage is always a snapshot: these are the levels in the 6 August 2026 bulletin, and in August a big storage can move several points in a week — compare each dam to the same week in earlier years on its own chart rather than to its annual average.
What to watch in September
The monsoon usually withdraws from Madhya Pradesh in late September, so there are roughly seven bulletins left in which the state can bank water for the year.
Does Indira Sagar keep climbing at 5 points a week? At that pace it would be in the mid-60s by the end of the monsoon — still short of its 76% average, but a workable year. Anything slower puts central Madhya Pradesh's rabi irrigation and the downstream inflows toward Gujarat's Sardar Sarovar under pressure. Does Tawa hold last week's pace? And does Gandhi Sagar stay at normal, which is the cushion under the whole state figure? The honest summary: Madhya Pradesh is filling, the Narmada has turned the corner, and the state is still going to finish this monsoon well behind 2025.
FAQ
What is the water level in Madhya Pradesh's dams today?
The 12 major reservoirs that Madhya Pradesh reports to the Central Water Commission were 40.9% full as of the 6 August 2026 bulletin, holding 40.9% of 35,234 MCM (1,244 TMC) of combined capacity. Only one dam, Rangawan, is below 20%. The live figure and the dam-by-dam map are updated on the Madhya Pradesh reservoir levels page.
How full is Indira Sagar, India's largest reservoir?
Indira Sagar was at 31.5% of capacity on 6 August 2026, up 5.1 points in a week and more than double its early-July level near 15%. That is still well under its August average of 76%, and 52.7 points below the 84.2% it held in the same week of 2025.
What is Tawa dam's capacity in TMC?
Tawa has a gross capacity of about 71.1 TMC (2,014 MCM). It was 23.5% full on 6 August 2026 — the fastest-rising dam in the state that week, at +9.9 points, but still the furthest below its own August average of 86%.
Which Madhya Pradesh dam is lowest right now?
Rangawan at 15.8% is the lowest reading, but it is a small dam whose August average is only 28%. Measured against normal, the lowest is Tawa at 23.5% against an 86% August average, followed by Indira Sagar at 31.5% against 76%.
Is Madhya Pradesh behind last year?
Yes, by a wide margin. The same 12 dams were 67.4% full on 7 August 2025 against 40.9% now — a gap of 26.5 percentage points. That is a larger shortfall than the national one: India as a whole is about 20 points behind last year, as covered in the August national edition.
Where does the data come from?
From the Central Water Commission's weekly reservoir bulletin — the same national source behind the India August edition. We mirror each week's figures and keep the multi-year history on the Madhya Pradesh page. How patchy India's public water data is overall is the subject of its Reservoir Transparency Index score.
This is the August 2026 edition, following India Reservoir Levels, August 2026 for the national picture and the week of 6 August monsoon tracker. It updates the July 2026 edition. We track the major Indian water economies month by month — see the Karnataka and Maharashtra editions — and you can follow Madhya Pradesh between bulletins on the Madhya Pradesh reservoir levels page.
