Summer is yet to peak in Kerala but the State is already reeling under rising atmospheric temperature, a severe drought situation where ground water level has sunk to alarming depths and crops in thousands of hectares have dried up, generating a
feeling that the State is still awaiting the severest summer in several decades or perhaps even a century.
Geologists and weather scientists say that the drought situation prevailing in Kerala, across which 44 rivers run, is equivalent to one that can only be brought about by absolute lack of rains for three to five consecutive years.
“In my opinion, the kind of summer we are now witnessing has not visited Kerala in 100 years,” says Anil Kumar, a Thrissur-based hydrologist.
According to weathermen, the atmospheric temperature recorded in several places in Kerala in the initial days of this week had been much
higher than what is considered normal.
They said that in some places, the temperature had risen by levels seen as unbearable for human beings. Alappuzha, Kottayam and Kozhikode have experienced the severest heat in the season.
“Summer has indeed peaked for all practical purposes. The skies remain cloudless causing direct fall of sunrays. The gushing easterly dry winds, mostly surface winds, are taking away whatever moisture is left in the air and the soil. Cool winds would pass on to the shore only when these dry winds stop leading to a fall in atmospheric heat,” said a former India Meteorological Department official.
Weathermen at the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Indian Meteorological Department are of the opinion that Kerala is unlikely to get any rainfall in the coming weeks. “At present, there are no weather conditions that are favourable for rains. Judging from the available factors, summer rain is unlikely to occur till March end,” said a scientist.
Rising atmospheric temperatures, strange wind patterns, depletion of natural systems of ground water recharging, destruction of hills and loss of wet lands have led to the dropping of ground water levels which is reflecting in the rapidly dropping water levels in open and bore wells. Water level in wells in Kerala has dropped by up to four meters (13 feet) in some areas.
According to the estimates of the Ground Water Department, water level has sunk alarmingly in nearly 87 percent of the wells in Kerala. The water level in three percent of the open wells in the State has dropped by over four metres and similar drop has been dropped in 11 percent of the bore wells, indicating the severity of the drought situation.
The chief reason behind this phenomenon is the rainfall deficit in the last southwestern and northeastern monsoons. The rainfall deficit in the June-September southwestern monsoon was 35 percent whereas that in the October-December northeastern monsoon was 62 percent. Also, there have virtually been no showers since the start of the current year.
Water level has receded by nearly two metres in 20 percent of the open wells in the State and it has dropped by similar measure in 24 percent of the bore wells. Kerala has over 60 lakh wells serving as source of water for 64.8 percent of the population while 24.5 percent rely on water supplied through pipelines.
At the same time, the State has suffered huge crop loss due to the prevailing drought situation. As per the estimates of the Department of Agriculture, rice cultivation in thousands of hectares of land had been lost due to drying up brought about by lack of irrigation between January 1 and February 14. The loss is estimated to amount to Rs 96 crore.