India's Yeldari reservoir in October 2026: 3.46 m below last year after weak monsoon
Satellites measured India's Yeldari reservoir at 461.01 metres (m) on 15 October, 3.46 m below a year earlier. The weak monsoon barely refilled it, which leaves less water for hydropower.
A data update from FactIQ, written from NASA Black Marble & satellite-derived indicators figures. What is FactIQ?
Key figures
- Yeldari reservoir (India) water level, 15 October
- 461.01 mdown from 464.47 m on 2 October 20252023-01-072026-10-15Yeldari (India) — water level, satellite altimetry
- Kariba (Zambia/Zimbabwe) storage change since first observation, 12 October
- 11.63 km³against roughly -2 to -2.5 km³ a year earlier2026-04-202026-10-12Kariba (Zambia, Zimbabwe) — storage volume change since first observation, satellite altimetry
- Tonle Sap (Cambodia) water level, mid-October
- 9.64 mbelow the 10.69 m peak in October 2025, above 9.5 m in October 20242025-07-292026-10-14Tonle Sap (Cambodia) — water level, satellite altimetry
Yeldari refilled only about 1 m this monsoon
Yeldari is a reservoir in Maharashtra, India. Satellites measure the height of its water surface in metres (m), and that height shows how much water is stored for hydropower and other uses. The reservoir was at 461.01 m on 15 October, down from 464.47 m on 2 October 2025. It rose from a low of 460.07 m in late June to 461.16 m in September. That is a rise of about 1 m. In 2025 it rose about 4.5 m. In 2020–22, 2024 and 2025 it ended the season near 464.4–464.6 m.This season looks like 2023, the last El Niño year
Yeldari stood at 461.20 m in October 2023, almost the same as now. The picture is not the same across India. Belae came in at 572.13 m, roughly in line with 572.31 m a year ago. So the Yeldari reading shows what happened at one reservoir. It is not a national figure.Kariba starts the rainy season with a much larger buffer than in 2025
Kariba lies on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. On 12 October its storage was 11.63 cubic kilometres (km³) above the level at its first satellite observation. A year earlier the figure was roughly -2 to -2.5 km³. Storage has come down from a July peak near 21.8 km³, as it usually does in the dry season. The lake goes into a possible El Niño rainy season with much more water in reserve than it had in 2025.Other reservoirs used for power show mixed trends
- Guri (Venezuela): storage is 15.35 km³. That is down from about 21 km³ in August and below the 20.8–22.7 km³ seen in October 2025. The reservoir is drawing down earlier than last year, much as it did in 2024.
- Tonle Sap (Cambodia): the seasonal flood reached 9.64 m in mid-October. That is below the 10.69 m peak in October 2025 and above the 9.5 m of October 2024.
- Toktogul (Kyrgyzstan): 867.79 m, close to full for the time of year and similar to last November (866.96 m), ahead of winter demand for power.
Source: NASA Black Marble & satellite-derived indicators. See all SAT data in FactIQ.
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