Comments
'Excess' rainfall (+58 per cent) received from March 1 to April 12 has not been enough for the Kerala capital to ensure adequate drinking water supplies for itself ahead of arrival of the monsoon.
The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is cutting down pumping operations by 50 per cent from today following the precipitous fall in the levels of Peppara reservoir, the main source of water for the city.
Severe beating
This points to how misleading summer rainfall records can be - the catchment areas of Peppara did not receive any rain at all even as the other areas benefited from excess rain during the season.
The predicament reflects also on the severe beating the city has come under from what has been a third drought on a trot for the state as a whole due to successive failures of the monsoon.
This is despite the fact that the rain gods seemed to have made some amends by showering the state with a 'large excess' of 67 per cent between March 1 to April 12 (58 per cent for the city).
According to the KWA, the restrictions on pumping would at best bring about a savings of 25 per cent from the current levels of consumption.
Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas had visited the Peppara reservoir on Monday and reviewed the situation.
Critical period
According to the KWA, while restrictions would apply during the day, full pumping operations would resume during the nights.
Water tankers would be pressed into service to reach supplies to the elevated areas of the city which would be affected the most due to day-time restrictions.
Current reservoir levels at Peppara would allow for pumping until May 18 only, according to early projections.
The current demand of the city is 265 million litres a day. With restrictions in place, the situation is thought could be managed till May 25.
Unless the catchment areas receive sustained showers during the intervening period, the situation is expected to reach a head, KWA sources said.
The city is eagerly awaiting to hear from the India Met Department which is scheduled to announce its first long-range forecast for the 2017 monsoon in New Delhi later today.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.