Relevance: GS Paper III (Disaster)
The man-made disaster in Kerala
- Kerala’s was undoubtedly a man-made tragedy—the inability to store and drain water efficiently and the assault on the Western Ghats ecology over the years, among other factors, had devastating consequences.
- Kerala’s disaster was a result of “decimation” its drainage systems, including forests, hills, flood plains, paddy fields, ponds, etc, that could have helped store the excess water or recharge ground water levels.
- This was compounded by the fact that Kerala received over 2,500 mm of rainfall this year—the second highest rainfall in nearly a century—of which more than a third fell over just 20 days. But, with climate change, extreme and erratic monsoon is becoming the new normal for India.
The drought-flood duopoly
- Over the past few years, flood-drought cycles are becoming both more common and pronounced in the country.
- This year, 86 districts in the country are facing >40% rainfall deficit—50 are experiencing a 40-50% deficit, 23 face a 51-60% deficit, 10 a 61-70% deficit and three face a >70% deficit.Of these 86 districts, 10 have also seen floods this year.
- A look at rainfall statistics across the nation confirms an extreme/erratic rains duopoly. While the country saw a 6% deficiency over the long period average, over 20% of the 718 districts in the country were flooded and nearly 40% are facing droughts with deficits of over 20%.
- What’s worse, many states have some districts flooded and some districts experiencing drought.
Way forward for India
- India must adopt resilience and adaptation strategies. No longer can it afford to have a storage capacity of just 253 billion cubic metres (bcm)—against 2,600 bcm of rainfall received in even a bad year and a usage demand of 1,110 bcm.
- The country has just 91 large reservoirs, storing just 158 bcm. New reservoirs must be built and at the right places.
- A network of connected water storage structures should be built to drain off excess water in case of floods and act as storehouses for droughts.
- Others, flooded or facing droughts or reeling under both, must take a cue from Kerala’s tragedy and focus on developing optimal storage and drainage capacity.
