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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Short-duration crops take a hit as water crisis strikes Tamil Nadu -TE Narasimhan

Short-duration crops take a hit as water crisis strikes Tamil Nadu -TE Narasimhan

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published Published on May 30, 2019   modified Modified on May 30, 2019
-Business Standard

Every day before 5 am and after 10 pm, 40-year-old K Kasturi and her husband leave their home in Mylapore, Central Chennai, in search of water with eight vessels. If they are lucky, they may be able to fetch water from hand pumps or taps in five vessels after walking 1-1.5 km. This is the only source of water to drink, cook, wash, clean and bathe for them.

This is common across Chennai and various parts of Tamil Nadu, where lush agricultural lands have turned parch as groundwater levels deplete to new lows, and wells and water reservoirs go dry.

 The water levels in Chennai’s four main reservoirs have been at their lowest in seven decades, with the current quantities cumulatively adding only up to 1.3 per cent of the total capacity. This is the fifth lowest quantity of water recorded in the last 74 years, making it one of the worst droughts the city has witnessed.

Private water suppliers are making the most of the crisis and have begun charging Rs 2,500-6,000 per load of tanker in the city, depending upon the capacity of the vehicle.

While the administration points to deficient rainfall as a reason, experts and activists say the drought is mostly man-made. They fear the drought this year could be worse than what was witnessed in 2017. The average rainfall in the state during last year was 81 cm as against the normal rainfall of 96 cm. The state should have received 10 cm rainfall during January.

Of the 32 districts in the state, 24 have been declared drought-hit. The major reservoirs in Tamil Nadu have a 26 per cent deficiency, even though live storage in six major reservoirs — Lower Bhavani, Mettur (Stanley), Vaigai, Parambikulam, Aliyar and Sholayar — is comparatively high than last year’s levels. As of May 16, 2019, live storage in these reservoirs was seen at 0.753 billion cubic metres (bcm) of the total capacity of 4.229 bcm, as against last year’s 0.419 bcm on May 17, 2018.

The districts of Tanjore, Trichy, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam, which span 1,400,000 acres of the delta region of the Cauvery, account for 47 per cent of river and canal irrigation. These are also home to the paddy cultivators of Tamil Nadu.

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Business Standard, 29 May, 2019, https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/short-duration-crops-take-a-hit-as-water-crisis-strikes-tamil-nadu-119052801442_1.html


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