Mysuru: The South-West Monsoon, which set in on June 8 in the state, has already brought rain over most of it and could cover the entire state in a day or two, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
While the weathermen forecast that Karnataka could receive 99 per cent of the anticipated rainfall this monsoon, the Cauvery catchment area in south interior Karnataka has not received adequate rain so far, leading to a 35 per cent deficit in the inflow into the Krishna Raja Sagar, Harangi, Kabini and Hemavathi reservoirs of the Cauvery basin, going by director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Dr G S Srinivas Reddy.
“The monsoon has so far been active over coastal Karnataka and the Malnad, which have received widespread and heavy rainfall. Some parts of north interior Karnataka have received moderate rainfall except undivided Darwad, Haveri and Gadag regions. But in south interior Karnataka, including the Cauvery basin, the rainfall has been weak. While sowing and other agricultural activity have been normal as they do not require very heavy rain, the crops will need a lot of water in the last week of July and August when they mature,” he says. While refusing to make a drought assessment yet, the officer is optimistic that things will improve by July as the forecast is favourable for the state. Going by sources in the water department, the gross storage on Monday at the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir was 6.27 TMC, at Kabini, 3.64 TMC, at Harangi, 1.835 TMC, and at Hemavathi, 2.662 TMC.
The water level at the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir was 67.51 feet as against its capacity to hold water upto 124.80 feet, and at Kabini, it was 2248.13 feet as against its capacity to hold water upto 2284 feet.
At the Hemavathi reservoir, the water level on Monday was 2852.90 feet as against its capacity to store water upto 2922 feet and at Harangi the water level was 2809.76 feet as against its capacity to hold water upto 2859 feet.
