VELLORE: While the people of Vellore are keeping their fingers crossed over the arrival of the monsoon in the State, the unexpected rain in the past two months has helped the Fort City raise the groundwater table in certain pockets.
This year, quite unusually, rainfall was witnessed even during the dog days, at least for five days, bringing some respite to the locals from the heat wave.
As the total rainfall in the past two months did not cross 100 mm, it certainly couldn’t have filled up the water bodies which have been dry for the past three to four years. “Though the rainfall is insufficient to fill up the tanks and other water bodies in the district, it has certainly paved way for water seepage into the soil much ahead of the monsoon,” said officials attached to the PWD and water resources organisation.
While the western part of the district, known for its dry climate and deep watertable conditions, has received scanty rainfall in the past two months, the eastern parts like Arakkonam, Sholinghur, Kaveripakkam and Arcot did receive good rainfall.
Officials attributed this to proximity of these towns to the coast of Bay of Bengal. Whenever there is a trough formed, this region invariably benefits. They, however, pointed out that unless the district received more than the normal rainfall, it would be difficult to revive the water bodies.
This can also be inferred from the fact that out of the 20 blocks in the district, the groundwater level in 18 blocks had reached an alarmingly low-level and only the two blocks of Nemili and Kaveripakkam have enough stock of groundwater.
In a recently convened meeting, Collector R Nanthagopal had expressed concern over the water situation in the district and urged the officials to focus on reviving the Rainwater Harvesting System(RWH) in all government and private buildings so that rainwater from the forthcoming monsoon could be conserved to recharge the groundwater table.
On Sunday, rain lashed parts of Arakkonam (10.8 mm), Wallajah (17mm), Arcot (12mm), Vellore (9.30mm) while Kaveripakkam recording the highest rainfall of 27.8 mm. Rain continued even during the night hours on Sunday. This has renewed the hopes of farmers in the eastern region of the district, who have already gone ahead with ploughing to keep the land ready for sowing groundnuts and other crops before the monsoon sets in.
While most parts of Vellore city and suburbs continue to face water scarcity as most of the borewells and open wells have dried up, some residents of Sathuvachari, Vallalar and Rangapuram said the recent rain had revived the borewells as they were able to pump out water to a certain extent.