Despite the State receiving considerable amount of rainfall during the northeast monsoon (October-December), the groundwater position in several districts has declined, triggering doubts about the smooth supply of water in the coming summer.
According to the readings taken in December 2014, a dozen districts registered fall in the water table compared to what it was a year ago. Seven of them — Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Thanjavur and Perambalur — saw the table going down by about one metre. Less rainfall has been cited as the major reason for the fall in the table.
Though the readings for January are expected to be available in a week or so, there may not be much change in the situation as the rainfall in December occurred mostly in southern districts, where the groundwater position was generally better now than that of 2014, says an official.
For the entire State, the rainfall in the last three months was 43 cm, barely short of the anticipated 44 cm. Five out of 32 districts — Erode, The Nilgiris, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin — received rainfall in excess. While 13 districts fell under the category of “normal rainfall,” eight districts registered deficient rainfall. Among the eight districts were Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruchi and Madurai, which received rainfall, varying from 18 cm in Vellore to 26 cm in Tiruchi to 32 cm in Madurai to 44 cm in Kancheepuram. The surplus districts included Tirunelveli (85 cm rainfall); Ramanathapuram (61 cm) and The Nilgiris (59 cm). Chennai (72 cm rainfall) and Coimbatore (31 cm) form part of those districts which got normal rainfall during the season.
An official in-charge of urban water supply maintains that there will not be any difficulty in meeting the water requirements this summer as a substantial number of urban water supply schemes are dependent on the Cauvery river. Once the samba crop is harvested in a month, there will be enough water in the Mettur dam, whose water level was much higher on Tuesday compared to the situation a year ago, the official points out. The Vellore, Melur and Hogenakkal water supply schemes, all using the Cauvery as the source, are expected to address the water needs of people in the urban local bodies sufficiently this year. Coimbatore is not likely to meet any problem as its reservoirs have comfortable storage. In the case of Chennai, the Krishna water supply scheme and the Veernam scheme, supplemented by two desalination plants, will ensure adequate water, the official hopes.
