No groundwater shortage: Andhra receives 26 % excess rainfall this monsoon season

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a 26 percent excess rainfall this monsoon season.

According to AP State Development Planning Society, the state has received 26 percent excess rainfall with 690mm against the normal of 545.4mm in this monsoon season.

Out of the 13 districts, 10 received excess rainfall and two received normal rainfall. Srikakulam district, however, received a 28 percent rainfall deficit.

Active monsoon coupled with the low pressures at regular intervals flooded most of the coastal districts and ravaged Godavari and Prakasam districts. Floodwaters damaged crops and properties along the rivers in some districts.

Officials of State Water Resources Department said Andhra Pradesh should not face any groundwater shortage over the next one year. Even the Rayalaseema region considered one of the driest regions in the state, seems to have significantly improved its groundwater levels.

The groundwater level in Rayalaseema is currently at 16.73 meters against 21.65 meters in September last year. In the coastal Andhra Pradesh region, the ground level is currently at 12.8 meters against the 15.61 meters in September last year.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the southwest (SW) monsoon has retreated from some parts of west Rajasthan and Punjab on September 28, nine days after the scheduled date.

An anti-cyclonic circulation in the lower tropospheric levels over western parts of northwest India and substantial reduction in moisture content and rainfall has created a favorable condition for the withdrawal of the SW monsoon.

Weathermen also predicted that conditions are becoming favorable for further withdrawal of southwest monsoon from some more parts of Rajasthan and Punjab and some parts of Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh during the next 2-3 days.

The IMD officials said that the southwest monsoon season commences from June 1 and ends on September 30.