Time’s running dry for TN

It was only January when the Tamil Nadu government declared all the districts of the state drought-hit. The state has suffered a 62 per cent deficit in the crucial northeast monsoon and a 19 per cent deficit in the southwest monsoon of 2016. Water reservoirs are at an all-time low (82 per cent short of normal levels) and there is a 33-per cent drop in the sowing of rice in winter.

According to India Spend, over 144 farmers in the state have committed suicide between October and December last year. As summer approaches, the situation is expected to get worse.

According to S Janakarajan, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, low rainfall is the major reason for the present drought in Tamil Nadu. However, the situation is also man-made because of a lack of understanding of water management processes. “Just a year ago (in 2015), Tamil Nadu received unprecedented rainfall, leading to floods in Chennai and surrounding areas. It failed to harvest this excess water and is now staring at a severe drought,” he says.

A recent assessment of 10 river basins in the state found seven to be critically polluted. Rampant illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu is affecting groundwater, which is depleting fast.

A 2013 analysis by the World Bank has already warned against frequent droughts in India due to climate change and a significant drop in crop yields by the 2040s.

The writing is on the wall. Tamil Nadu cannot afford to squander even a drop of water that falls from the sky.

Nidhi Jamwal is an independent environment and development journalist based in Mumbai

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