The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : More rain predicted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

More rain predicted

Divya Gandhi and Swathi Shivanand

T.G. Halli reservoir yet to get filled up

City recorded 79.4 mm of rainfall on September 13
More rains likely in October and November

Bangalore: Just three weeks into September, but the city has received far more rain than is “normal” for the entire month. While the average rainfall for September is 194.8 mm, this month the city has received 257.9 mm (until Wednesday night). So far, the rainiest day this month was September 13 with 79.4 mm.

A low pressure over the coast of Andhra Pradesh was responsible for the copious rainfall across Karnataka this month, said G.S. Vijayaraghavan, Director of Meteorological Centre. This is not unusual. Over the last 10 years, Bangalore has received rain in excess of the average on five previous years. And the highest rain ever recorded in the city for September was a torrential 516.6 mm in 1986.

Forecast

Heavy rain is expected in Bangalore for the next two days. But the intensity will reduce once the low pressure crosses the coast, Mr. Vijayaraghavan said.

“On September 22, we expect rainfall frequency to reduce. Bangalore will then see typical September weather patterns, that is, bright sunny mornings and thunderstorms in evenings and night.”

However, this brief respite it appears will only be followed by more rain. “We are nearing the end of the Southwest monsoon. But with the onset of the North East monsoon in mid-October more rains will be expected especially in South Interior Karnataka,” he said. Rather wet weather is predicted for November too. “November is a month of intense cyclone activity especially in the coast of Tamil Nadu, which will bring rain to Karnataka,” he said.

Low level in T.G. Halli

Bangalore has received 733 mm of rainfall since the onset of monsoon on June 1 – which is in excess of the normal by 293 mm. But one of the city’s main sources of water still remains relatively dry. The water level at Thippagondanahalli (T.G. Halli) reservoir in Magadi taluk is only 30 ft when the maximum capacity is 74 ft, said T. Venkatraju, Chief Engineer (Maintenance), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), on Wednesday.

The water board is pumping only 50 million litres of water a day to the city when earlier the reservoir was supplying about 135 MLD, he said. The situation is better than it was in July when the water level had plummeted to less than 12 feet and water pumping had been reduced to 30 MLD. S.P. Prakash, Director, Drought Monitoring Cell, said that while Bangalore Rural district, where T.G. Halli is located, has received adequate rainfall, “it is not enough to generate flow into the catchment area”. The reservoir was linked to a series of about 100 minor irrigation tanks which must overflow for T.G. Halli to fill up, he said. “But the rainy season has not ended yet. Tanks in Bangalore rural district get about 40 per cent of water only during the north east monsoon,” he added.

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