Summer crops in trouble as scorching heat sucks up reservoir waters
NEW DELHI : Sowing of crucial summer crops as well as yields of some winter crops this year have been affected with water levels at India’s 150 major reservoirs depleting further to 25% of their total capacity, leaving farmers hoping that the forecast of a normal monsoon will bear fruit. While 33 reservoirs have 50% of normal water storage capacity, 85 reservoirs reported about 80% of normal storage, the Central Water Commission said in a bulletin on Thursday.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south and Bihar and West Bengal on the east have been facing significant shortfalls in water storage. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar and West Bengal have been facing significant shortfalls in water storage, with reservoir levels this week dropping to as low as 14% in the southern states and nearly to 32% in the eastern regions.
Lower rainfall and a scorching summer caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have resulted in severe water scarcity in some regions, such as in Bengaluru. As many as 20 states across the country have witnessed rain deficiency or no rainfall since March.
The country has received 13% below-normal rainfall since March, as per the India Meteorological Department. “The lower reservoir levels reportedly had an adverse impact on the latest rabi (winter crops) and summer crops in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and in Bihar and Odisha farmers have witnessed wilting in case of pulses, and shriveling of grains in case of paddy," said Pushan Sharma, director-research, Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics.
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