Bengaluru: Even though the percentage of rainfall deficiency in Cauvery basin areas have come down from 34 per cent to 29, but weathermen feel this isn't enough and hope the monsoon will pick up in future.
While the deficiency in rainfall is at 22 per cent at upper catchment area of Cauvery, regions below KRS dam till Biligundlu, which include Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar is facing 44 per cent deficiency.
G.S. Srinivas Reddy, director of Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre told Deccan Chronicle, "Weak monsoon is prevailing over the Cauvery basin, with scattered and moderate to light rains in the region. While we had predicted the monsoon to intensify after June 25, it is yet to make its impact felt as the density of rain bearing clouds is still low." To generate runoff to the Cauvery dams-Hemavathi, Harangi, KRS and Kabini, Cauvery catchment areas should receive heavy rainfall, Reddy explained. Live storage in KRS dam as on June 28 was 2.12 TMC, while it had 2.46 TMC last year. Hemavathi has 2.92 TMC as against 3.58 TMC last year and last year was declared drought hit.
When and asked whether this year too it is the same situation, Reddy said, "It will be too early to comment as rains are picking up in Cauvery's main catchment areas - Kodagu in Karnataka and Wayanad in Kerala. If the Monsoon fails to make its impact felt in the month of July too, then the state may have to face another drought."
We have crossed only 25 per cent of monsoon season and we are expecting the monsoon to gather momentum in the months of July and August, he said.
He said that rains in North Interior Karnataka and Coastal regions have been satisfactory.
