PANJIM: Former National Institute of Oceanography scientist Ramesh Kumar stated that irregular rainfall over the State during the monsoon can adversely affect the State’s drinking water supply which is collected in dams and is used for drinking and also for agriculture.
He said that in order to get sufficient amount of water till the next monsoon, the State needs to recharge the water table, dams, ponds, lakes, etc, before the rainwater gets dispersed into the Arabian Sea.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Kumar said, “This year, there was hardly any pre-monsoon rainfall. But the amount is substantially higher because the rainfall which we got for three or four days, it was much more than the pre-monsoon showers. We hardly had any pre-monsoon rainfall in March and April, except for one day that is April 21 and we had reasonable amount of rainfall. The pre-monsoon showers were more than 100% in Ponda, Valpoi and other regions. Panjim also got a reasonable amount of rainfall. Mapusa got the minimum amount of rainfall.”
He further said, “This year we had a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal in the form of Remal, on the Bangladesh and West Bengal coast. This can affect the forthcoming monsoon over Goa. Monsoon is the lifeline for drinking water, water to lakes and ponds and for agriculture. This is especially important from the hydrological point of view, agriculture and drinking water.”
Kumar said, “If the monsoon does not come on time it will put additional pressure on drinking water and water resources especially at the dams.”
We only depend on the monsoon water alone. We need recharging of the water resources including ground water. Lakes and ponds should be recharged, before the water runs into the Arabian Sea.”
