Nilgiris Received 31% Deficit Rains This Summer

Ooty:The Nilgiris district recorded 31 per cent deficit rainfall this summer and is desperately looking forward to a bountiful south-west monsoon season to compensate for the shortfall.

The summer rainfall in the hills between March and May was excess during the past five years. The Nilgiris registered 66 per cent excess rainfall in 2021 summer, 73 per cent excess in 2022, 25 per cent excess in 2023, near-normal in 2024 and 183 per cent excess in 2025. But, this year, the Nilgiris recorded only 141 mm of rains, against the average normal rainfall of 212 mm during summer, which is 31 per cent less than the normal average.

Of course, since last December there has hardly been any good rain, with only sporadic summer showers in the preceding three months. While the water level in the Parson’s Valley reservoir, the major water source for Ooty town, is said to be satisfactory, the decreasing level in the Emerald Dam, the major source of drinking water for Coonoor town, as well as in the Pykara reservoir, which quenches thirst in 14 village panchayats near Ooty, has become a cause of concern.

The water managers are hopeful that onset of SW monsoon in the right time and a good bout of rain in June and July will help the reservoirs to brim and drive away the worries.

Green activists here blamed the El-Nino effect for the Nilgiris failing to receive its normal average rainfall this summer.