Jaipur, July 15 -- Rajasthan's reservoirs remain considerably below last year's storage levels despite the onset of the monsoon, with the state's 693 dams holding 5,947.63 million cubic metres (Mcum) of water, or 45.65% of their total designed capacity, according to the latest Water Resources Department (WRD) data released on July 14. At the same time last year, the state's reservoirs were 59.83% full with 7,795.38 Mcum of water, indicating a year-on-year decline of nearly 1,848 Mcum. The report shows only a marginal decline of 5.94 Mcum in the state's total storage during the last 24 hours, suggesting that inflows have largely balanced releases. Compared to June 15 this year, overall storage has improved only slightly-from 44.46% to 45.65%-highlighting that the monsoon has yet to substantially replenish reservoirs across the state. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast light rainfall at isolated places in five to six districts of Rajasthan over the coming days, raising hopes of improved inflows into reservoirs. However, it has also warned that strong dust-laden winds with speeds of 30-40 kmph are likely to prevail across most parts of the Jodhpur and Bikaner divisions in western Rajasthan over the next two to three days, which could reduce visibility and indicate that widespread monsoon activity is yet to reach these regions. Among the six WRD zones, Kota has the highest reservoir storage at 56.51% of capacity, followed by Jaipur (47.89%), Banswara (45.41%) and Udaipur (36.83%). Bharatpur's reservoirs are only 25.48% full, while Jodhpur remains the worst-performing region with storage at just 17.79% of capacity. Every zone, except Udaipur which is nearly unchanged, is carrying significantly less water than it did a year ago. The state has 23 major dams with a combined capacity of 8,196.75 Mcum. These currently hold 4,696.52 Mcum, or 57.30% of capacity, compared with 5,874.54 Mcum during the corresponding period last year....