The state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

experiences diverse rainfall quantities across its regions. While

Malnad Malnad (; Malēnādu) is a region in the state of Karnataka in India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range, and is roughly 100 kilometers in width. Malnadis a region of Karnataka ...

and

Coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

Karnataka receive copious amount of rainfall; its north Bayaluseemae region in the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...

is one of the most arid regions in the country. Most of the rains received in the state is during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

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 The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

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 Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir ...

projects in the world.

Agumbe Agumbe is a village situated in the Thirthahalli taluka of Shimoga district, Karnataka, India. It is nestled in the thickly forested Malenadu region of the Western Ghats mountain range. Owing to its high rainfall, it has received the epithet ...

in the

Shimoga district Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its administrative centre. Jog Falls view ...

, Amagaon in Belgaum District,

Hulikal Hulikal is a village located in the Hosanagara taluk of the Shimoga district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is known for its heavy rainfall. The Hulikal village lies in western ghat ( Paschima ghatta in Kannada ) region of Karnataka stat ...

again in Shimoga district and

Talakaveri Talakaveri or Talacauvery is the place that is generally considered to be the source of the river Kaveri and a holy place for many Hindus. It is located on Brahmagiri hills near Bhagamandala in Kodagu district, Karnataka State. It is locat ...

Madikeri Madikeri is a hill station town in Madikeri taluk and headquarters of Kodagu district in Karnataka, India. Etymology Madikeri was known as ''Muddu Raja Keri'', which meant Mudduraja's town, was named after the prominent Haleri king Mudduraj ...

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.

and

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 (Joida) Taluk in Uttara Kannada District, Kollur in Udupi District to show which one can be called the " Cherrapunji of South India". The following were the top 5 places that recorded highest rainfall in statistics

010-2017 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

The following places recorded highest rainfall with respect to each year

Importance

The economy of Karnataka is mainly agrarian and most of it is dependent on the rainfall; mainly the

southwest monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

. The extent of arid land in the state is second only to Rajasthan. Only 26.5% of sown area (30,900 km²) is subjected to

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

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 Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

and Karnataka has come up with innovative methods like

in order to solve the drinking

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is whe ...

in the state.

Rainwater harvesting

Karnataka is a pioneer in the concept of

with The Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) implementing one of the largest

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: * Agricultural output will be impacted: While this has a direct impact on the economy of the state, it also leads to other social issues like the suicide of farmers. Due to the crop failure, the farmers would not be in a position to repay the loans they had taken for agriculture and few of them take an extreme step of suicide. * Drinking water scarcity: A lot of towns and cities in Karnataka are dependent on rivers for the supply of drinking water and any deficiency in rainfall leads to the lesser amount of drinking water being supplied to the homes. * Shortage of electricity: Deficient rainfall leads to a drop in the amount of electricity produced by hydroelectric projects and hence drastic measures like compulsory power cuts have to be employed to counter this shortage.

Excess rainfall

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 Hosur Road is the part of National Highway 48, erstwhile NH44, which connects metropolis Bangalore and industrial City Hosur. It is a four to eight-lane access controlled highway. The road is part of the National Highway network. The Nation ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

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 1126 and 731 mm of average annual rainfall.

Districts

The average annual rainfall in the districts of Karnataka varies from in the Bagalkot district to in the

Udupi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...

District. Bagalkot,

Chitradurga Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance which is locate ...

and

Koppal ''Koppal'' is a district headquarters of Koppal district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Koppal is surrounded on three sides by hills. It was known as Kopana Nagara. The town has historical landmarks such as the Koppal Fort, Gavimath (a ...

are the districts which receive the least rainfall whereas

, Dakshina Kannada,

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Bel ...

Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...

Kodagu Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

, Chickmagalur and

Shivamogga Shimoga, officially known as Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the central part of the state of Karnataka, India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region o ...

districts receive the heaviest rainfall.

Notes

{{portalbar, India, Water Environment of Karnataka Climate of India