Severe drought looming over Kerala

Bharathapuzha is raising disturbing questions regarding the drinking water and irrigation needs of people living in 175 grama panchayats and a dozen municipalities located in Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur districts. Photo: K. K. Mustafah

A severe drought is looming large over Kerala as the state has received deficient rainfall during the south-west monsoon.

There has been a sharp decrease of rainfall to the tune of 34 per cent during the south-west monsoon, according to figures released by the Indian Meteorological Department here.

From June 1 this year to September 30, Kerala received 1352.3 mm rains against the normal rainfall of 2039.7 mm, a deficiency of 34 per cent.

There has been no rain in October and if this situation continues, there will be drought-like situation, IMD, Thiruvananthapuram Director S Sudevan, said.

“If the North East Monsoon fails then there will be problems in different sectors — Agriculture, Power etc”, he told PTI .

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has also said that the state was heading for a “severe” drought as Kerala had received deficient rains in the south-west monsoon.

Though the north-east monsoon was yet to set in, the state had not received pre-monsoon showers, he said.

“A huge danger is lurking in the state in the form of drought as the south west monsoon was deficient”, Mr. Vijayan had said at a function yesterday.

“If this situation continues, the state is heading for a severe drought. We need to take precautions,” he had said.

To tackle the situation, the government was also keen to encourage rain water harvesting, he said.

There has been an average reduction of 22 per cent water in the state’s dams when compared to the water storage in September last year.

The state was also gearing up to take measures to tackle scarcity of drinking water which is likely to be faced by the state due to deficient monsoon, according to Water Resources Minister Mathew P Thomas.

The government also has plans to rejuvenate at least 10,000 private temple ponds of the total 40,000 in the state.

The Chief Minister had convened a high level meeting on Oct 13 to work out plans to meet the impending drought situation.

Kerala is now pinning all hopes on the north east monsoon which is yet to set in, he said.

Published - October 30, 2016 03:33 pm IST