Rainfall in Karnataka


The state of Karnataka in India has a bittersweet relationship with rains. While its regions of Malnad and Coastal Karnataka receive copious amount of rainfall; its north Bayaluseemae region in the Deccan Plateau is one of the most arid regions in the country. Most of the rains received in the state is during the monsoon season. Being an agrarian economy with a large percentage of its citizens engaged in agriculture, the failure of rains can have a crippling effect on the economy of the state. Apart from the benefits in agriculture, the Government of Karnataka has tried to avail other benefits of rainfall using scientific methods. An example of this is the project, Rainwater Harvesting in Rural Karnataka which is initiated by the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology and is one of the largest rainwater harvesting projects in the world. Agumbe in the Shimoga district, Amagaon in Belgaum District, Hulikal again in Shimoga district and Talakaveri in Madikeri are some of the known places with the highest annual rainfall in South India. Of this Amagaon has received over 10000 mm rain fall twice in 10 years.
Agumbe and Hulikal in Shivamogga District of Western Ghat region is considered as "Cheerapunji of South India" but still some places in Western Ghats region had resulted much more rainfall than these two villages. Amagaon in Belgaum District recorded magical number of 10,068mm in the year 2010, Mundrote in Kodagu district recorded 9974mm in the year 2011.
The table below compares rainfall  between Agumbe in Thirthahalli taluk in Shimoga district, Hulikal in Hosanagara taluk in Shimoga district, Amagaon in Khanapur Taluk in Belgaum district and Talacauvery and Mundrote in Madikeri taluk in Kodagu district, Kokalli of Sirsi Taluk,Nilkund of Siddapur Taluk, CastleRock of Supa Taluk in Uttara Kannada District, Kollur in Udupi District to show which one can be called the "Cherrapunji of South India".
YearHulikal Rainfall Agumbe Rainfall Amagaon Rainfall Talacauvery Rainfall Kokalli Rainfall Nilkund Rainfall Castle Rock Rainfall Mundrote Rainfall Kollur Rainfall
20175,7006,3114,7335,85931304981556010025203
20165,7216,4494,7055,43026824655496814583496
20156,0355,5184,0135,31927304367366731434254
20147,9077,9175,5807,84487466710595655663308
20139,3838,7708,4408,62844647082366771996614
20128,4096,9335,9875,72250365398616537276715
20118,5237,9219,3686,85544376593708399747083
20107,7176,92910,0686,7944002--50427685
20098,3577,982-----
20087,1157,199-----
20079,0388,255-----
20068,6568,457-----


The following were the top 5 places that recorded highest rainfall in statistics
RankHobli/VillageDistrictTalukYearRainfall in mmElevation in metres
1AmagaonBelgaum districtKhanapur201010,068785
2MundroteKodagu district/Coorg DistrictMadikeri20119,974585
3HulikalShimoga districtHosanagara20139,383614
4AgumbeShimoga districtThirthahalli20138,770643
5Kokalli/KakalliUttara KannadaSirsi20148,746780
The following places recorded highest rainfall with respect to each year
YearPlaceTalukDistrictRainfall in mmElevation
2017AgumbeThirthahalliShimoga district6,311634
2016AgumbeThirthahalliShimoga district6,449634
2015HulikalHosanagaraShimoga district6,035614
2014KokalliSirsiUttara Kannada8,746780
2013HulikalHosanagaraShimoga district9,383614
2012HulikalHosanagaraShimoga district8,409614
2011MundroteMadikeriKodagu district9,974585
2010AmagaonKhanapurBelgaum district10,068785


Importance

The economy of Karnataka is mainly agrarian and most of it is dependent on the rainfall; mainly the southwest monsoon. The extent of arid land in the state is second only to Rajasthan. Only 26.5% of sown area is subjected to irrigation and hence the rest of the cultivated land is entirely dependent on rainfall. Rainfall also influences the quantity of water available in the rivers which in turn influences the amount of drinking water available to the population and the amount of electricity that can be generated in the hydroelectric power stations in the state. The importance of rainfall is such that Karnataka sometimes had to resort to costly artificial methods like cloud seeding in order to induce rain artificially. Rainfall is also crucial to recharge the depleting ground water and Karnataka has come up with innovative methods like rainwater harvesting in order to solve the drinking water scarcity in the state.

Rainwater harvesting

Karnataka is a pioneer in the concept of rainwater harvesting with The Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology implementing one of the largest rainwater harvesting projects in the world. 23683 schools in rural Karnataka were selected for this project with the main goal of providing drinking water by using the method of rooftop harvesting. In this project, rainwater collected on the rooftop is channeled through a system of PVC pipes and stored in an enclosed surface tank. The pipeline consists of a first-flush filter which flushes out the first rainfall along with other contaminants that may exist on the roof and then subsequent cleaner rainwater is allowed to pass on to the tank. A sand bed filter is used to further eliminate impurities in the water before it gets collected in the tank. Further precautions are taken to prevent dust and insects from entering the tank.

Consequences

Deficient rainfall

A year of deficient rainfall leads to the following consequences:
Heavy rains can lead to a significant loss of life and property and also cause damage to the crops. Excess rains also cause an impact in major cities with inundated roads causing traffic jams. An example of this was in the year 2005 when the Madivala lake overflowed on to the Hosur Road in Bangalore forcing many schools and offices to close.

Rainfall distribution

The average annual rainfall in Karnataka is 1248 mm. The state is divided into three meteorological zones viz. North Interior Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka and Coastal Karnataka. Coastal Karnataka with an average annual rainfall of 3456 mm is one of the most rainy regions in the country. Contrasting this, the region of South Interior Karnataka and North Interior Karnataka receive only 1286 and 731 mm of average annual rainfall.

Districts

The average annual rainfall in the districts of Karnataka varies from 562 mm in the Bagalkot district to 4119 mm in the Udupi District. Bagalkot, Chitradurga and Koppal are the districts which receive the least rainfall whereas Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Chickmagalur and Shivamogga districts receive the heaviest rainfall.
Average annual rainfall in the districts of Karnataka-


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