Warm days and sporadic drizzle have marked a dry July for the city where rainfall recorded is at a seven-year low.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), their station in the centre of the city recorded just 58 mm of rainfall, the lowest since 2010. To put this in perspective, this is less than a quarter of the rainfall received in July 2016, which was marked with floods in Kodichikkanahalli, Madiwala, and Hosur Road.
- Total rainfall this month: 58 mm
- Lowest since 2010, when city saw just 19 mm of rain
- ‘Normal’ rainfall for July: 112.9mm
This year, however, has seen the rain clouds stay away from the city. If the first two months of the monsoon was to normally receive an average of 219.4 mm of rain, this year has seen rain gauges record just 83mm of rain — or nearly two-thirds lesser.
It is not just a lack of rainfall that has characterised the monsoon this year. The city has, looking at the thermometer, seen an unusually warm monsoon month. Twenty-one days of the month have been warmer than the “normal” of 28.3C with an additional 10 days breaching the 30C mark.
This, however, seemed to have led to the drizzles that doused the heat over the past week.
- Total rainfall for June and July: 83 mm
- Normal rainfall: 219.4 mm
- Shortfall of 62%
- On average, July has been 0.3C above normal
- Normal temperature: 28.3C
- 11 days when mercury breached 30C
- Highest recorded temperature this month: 31.3C
“It is definitely deficient rainfall, and the conditions have not been suitable for rains in south-interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru. If there were rains in the past week, it was because the city heated up and the localised conditions caused rains,” S.M. Metri, Head of IMD in Bengaluru, said. While weathermen say the final verdict on the monsoon can only be said at the end of August, conditions over the next week do not look favourable. “If an off-shore trough (area of low pressure) develops over Arabian Sea, then we can see some rain here which will push the monsoon to some semblance of normalcy,” Mr. Metri added.
While it is difficult to tabulate the impact on groundwater or lakes as the city lacks an effective monitoring system, the Minor Irrigation Department has stated that 60% of their 18 tanks in the district remain completely dry. Barely two tanks have reached their full capacity, while the rest are less than half full.
Demand for tankers
With the monsoon failing and water in pipes drying over the past few days, tankers have become a near omnipotent sight in the city. Whether it is Malleswaram or Basavanagudi, tankers have come back in demand as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) shut off water supply to linking works near their Cauvery pumping stations. Though pumping was stopped for barely a day, large parts of Bengaluru faced water crisis for three days and the residents were forced to rely on tankers. “There was a planned disruption of water supply, and areas where water is being supplied twice or thrice a week have been affected the most. Here, storage tanks had run dry,” said Tushar Girinath, Chairman, BWSSB. However, the board has resumed supply, and is pumping nearly 1,350 million litres a day — nearly 50 MLD lower than capacity as the “demand for water” reduces during the monsoon.
On the impact of lower rainfall in the city, Mr. Girinath said, “Groundwater and rainwater recharging may be hit. Coupled with this, reservoir levels continue to be low. If the situation does not improve, we may see problems during winter and summer months.”
