The storage position in major reservoirs across south Karnataka is comfortable and is higher than in the last five years for the first week of May. With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting a normal monsoon and its timely onset in June, the region will not be affected by drinking water scarcity this year.
Unprecedented rain and back-to-back floods in 2019 and 2018 ensured copious inflow to the reservoirs, which otherwise would have approached the dead-storage level by now.
The water level at Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), as on Saturday, was 96.58 ft. against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 124.80 ft.
The water level on the same day last year was 82.69 ft. The live storage, which is the quantum of usable water, as on Saturday, was 15.85 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet, while it was 7.62 tmcft on the same day last year.
This is almost twice the quantum of water available in 2019. Similarly, the storage in KRS as on May 9 was 7.54 tmcft in 2018, 7.33 tmcft in 2017, and 10.58 tmcft in 2016, as per the records of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC). The storage position at Hemavati, the other major feeder for the KRS, is also comfortable.
The water level was 2,893.37 ft. against the FRL of 2,922 ft. and the live storage was 14.61 tmcft as against 3.67 tmcft on the same day last year.
The live storage during the corresponding period in 2018 was 4.55 tmcft, 2.68 tmcft in 2017, and 4.66 tmcft in 2016.
Though a bulk of the stored water is normally used for early kharif crops, the KSNDMC rainfall and weather analysis for the State indicates that pre-monsoon showers have been widespread. Hence the dependence on reservoirs for standing crops will be relatively less and agriculture will be under rain-fed conditions which will help the dams maintain the storage levels.
The pre-monsoon rain for South Karnataka is 18%, which is above normal for the period from March 1, 2020, to May 7, 2020.
Against a normal of 67 mm, the region received 79 mm of rainfall.
The district-wise rainfall for April was also uniform and widespread and near normal across the region.
Mysuru received 65 mm for April which is 5% higher than normal while Chamarajanagar district received 79 mm, which is 18% above normal.
Only Chikkmagaluru has received deficient rains — 40 mm — in April which is 32% below normal, while Hassan received 54% which is near normal for April.
Across the State, 15 districts have received excess rains from March 1 to May 7 this year. While 13 districts received normal rainfall, two districts — Haveri and Shivamogga — received deficient rain, as per the KSNDMC statistics.
