Almost four weeks after the onset of the southwest monsoon, the cumulative storage across 13 major reservoirs in the State is higher than the storage during the same period last year.
Against the cumulative gross storage capacity of 860.27 tmcft, the actual storage was 403.01 tmcft as of Sunday. The cumulative storage during the same period last year was 248.36 tmcft, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
Though the monsoon has been weak in the past week, it was fairly vigorous during the preceding three weeks, which helped to augment the inflow into dams.
Linganamakki, Supa, and Varahi reservoirs have a cumulative storage capacity of 328.18 tmcft, against which the actual storage was 129.21 tmcft on Sunday. This amounts to 39% of the combined storage, which is mainly used for generating hydel power. The combined storage in the three reservoirs during the same period last year as 64.53 tmcft.
The major reservoirs in the Cauvery basin include the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), Hemavathi, Kabini, and Harangi, and against the cumulative storage capacity of 114.57 tmcft, the actual storage was 58.44 tmcft on Sunday; it was 42.85 tmcft on the same day last year.
In the Krishna basin, the main reservoirs include the Bhadra, Tungabhadra, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Alamatti, and Narayanapura. The cumulative gross storage capacity in these reservoirs is 417.52 tmcft, against which the actual storage on Sunday was 218.96 tmcft. It was 140.98 tmcft on the same day last year.
A month to go
Though the rains have abated in the past week, the southwest monsoon lasts till the third week of August before its gradual withdrawal, and hence there is an adequate window for the storage in the reservoirs to improve.
While the cumulative rainfall across the State for the past one week was 50% below normal, the cumulative rainfall from June 1 to 26 indicated an 8% surplus and was hence classified under “normal” as per the norms of the IMD. Against the normal rainfall of 167 mm, the State received 180 mm of rain from June 1 to 26, as per the KSNDMC.
While rainfall in 19 districts in the State fell under normal (+19% to -19%) category, it was classified as excess (20% to 59% above normal) in seven districts, large excess (60% above normal) in two districts, and deficit (-20% to -59%) in three districts (Mysuru, Mandya, and Dakshina Kannada).