Thrissur: Experts fear a drought situation looming in Thrissur as the water level in major dams in the district have dropped due to inadequate rainfall.
A meeting to assess the situation, attended by the District Disaster Management Authority, was convened at the Collectorate control room on Sunday.
According to the India Meteorological Department, Thrissur has had a 50% drop in rainfall compared to last monsoon. While Thrissur normally receives about 1,695mm rainfall between June and August, it recorded 868mm during the period this year.
“This means, there’s a shortage of 49 percent of rain compared to last year,” said an officer who attended the meeting. “In the first 18 days of August last year, more than 307 mm of rain was received. This year, only 23 mm of rainfall has been recorded, which is sharp drop of 92 per cent.”
The meeting was presided over by the Deputy Collector, Disaster Management, Thrissur.
Water level in dams
Peechi Dam, which is mainly used for irrigation and drinking water projects has the water level at 23 percent. It had 67% water this time last year.
In Chimmini, which is the largest dam in Thrissur, there is 30.7% water compared to 80% from last year. The Vazhani Dam that had 73% water last year is now at 34%.
Introduce new seeds
As an immediate precaution, the officials of the Agriculture department have been directed to prepare a plan regarding the appropriate sowing time and use of seed varieties that require minimal use of water.
The meeting suggested preparing a local agricultural calendar in accordance with the nature of various farms and availability of water. The meeting also instructed agriculture officials to convince farmers about the present situation.
“The crisis should be overcome by planting as early as possible and selecting short duration crops. Farmers should be encouraged to insure their crops. This is also because the water in the dams will have to be used for drinking purpose in the context of a severe drought,” an officer said.
The meeting was attended by LSGD assistant director KV Anson Joseph, major irrigation division executive engineer TK Jayaraj, minor irrigation assistant executive engineer S Seena Begum, KLDC project engineer CK Shaji, principal agriculture office technical assistant L Sreelekha, hazard analyst Susmy Sunny and engineers with the Kerala Water Authority.
