Rains to elude Gujarat for one more week

Water levels in major dams of state down to 42% of total capacity

There seems to be no good news for people of Gujarat with regard to rains for yet another week. While the weather department has forecast that most parts of the state is not likely to receive any significant rainfall till July 15, the water levels in major dams of the state have come down to 42.48 per cent of the total capacity as on Monday.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Ahmedabad, there was no system developing in the Arabian sea that would bring rain to Gujarat in the next 5-7 days. “Not much rain is expected for another week as the monsoon was not active on the Arabian sea,” said Manorama Mohanty, deputy director of the IMD here.

She said that light to moderate rains are expected in isolated place of south Gujarat and Saurashtra region. Also, the system that was building up in the Bay of Bengal last week has fizzled out.

Adding to the agony of people in the state the water levels in major dams (irrigation projects) of have come down significantly. While the gross storage capacity of all major dams in the state was 21,014.94 million cubic meter (mcm) the water level as on Monday stood at 8,927.81 mcm, as per data released by the Narmada, Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpasar Department of the Gujarat government. This is 42.48 per cent of the gross storage capacity of the major dams including the Sardar Sarovar Project.

However, if the Sardar Sarovar Project is excluded, the gross storage capacity of major dams comes to 15,749.10 mcm, which was currently filled up to 4,766.83 mcm, that is 30.27 per cent of the total capacity.

Another reason that is a cause of concern is the depleting level of water in the water bodies across the state. Though there is enough reserve (that could last for over a year) in water bodies located in south and central Gujarat, situation was not so good in Saurashtra and Kutch regions. Number of water bodies in Suarashtra have dried up or have water reserve that could last not more than 3-4 months.

Following the dry spell in June and delay in onset of monsoon over the Gujarat, the state government machinery has already swung into action and come out with a contingency plan for kharif crop and begun coordination meeting with district administration to take stock of the water, fodder and other local requirements. Water is also being supplied vide tankers to villages where there was scarcity of drinking water.

Normally, onset of monsoon over the state begins in the second week of June in south and central Gujarat region and later extends to north and Kutch region by late third and fourth week of June. But this year there has been no rain in June and first week of July in most parts of the state.

Because of delayed rains the sowing of major crops also has been affected. Compared to 50 per cent sowing in the state as on June 30 last year, this year the sowing has been only 14.73 per cent. Against cultivable area of 8.68 million hectare, sowing has been done only in 1.28 million hectares in Gujarat as on June 30. Whereas, during the same period last year sowing was completed in 4.368 million hectares. As on July 1, the figures released by the state agriculture department showed that in 2014 kharif season sowing was down 70 per cent compared to 2013 season.