Karnataka monsoon: Major dams less than half full amid 34% rainfall deficit
Water storage in 14 dams in Karnataka was over 65% of their total capacity during the same period last year.
Compared to an average of 249 mm for the period, the overall rainfall was 165 mm. (Representational image). More than a month after the onset of the southwest Monsoon, reservoirs in Karnataka are yet to receive good inflows. None of the major dams have half the water storage they had at the same time last year.
Data from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre showed that while the gross capacity of 14 major reservoirs in the state is 895.65 TMC, the water level as of Monday was 212.9 TMC. During the same period last year, storage in the dams was 595.3 TMC.
While inflows to reservoirs such as Linganamakki and Ghataprabha have increased due to heavy rain in the Malnad and coastal regions, the situation remains grim for other reservoirs in the state. For instance, the current storage of the 49.45 TMC Krishnarajasagar dam built across the Cauvery river is 11.49 TMC—23 per cent of the total capacity. Similarly, the Kabini dam—built across a tributary of the Cauvery—has 6.74 TMC of water against the full storage level of 19.52 TMC. These two dams are key water providers for Bengaluru and surrounding regions and were almost full during the same period last year.
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