The state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

experiences diverse rainfall quantities across its regions. While

Malnad Malnad (or Malenadu) is a region in the state of Karnataka, India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats mountain range and is roughly 100 kilometers in width. It includes the districts of Uttara Kannada, Shivam ...

and

Coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

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

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

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 Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

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 GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state 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 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 Rainwater tank, tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), Aquifer s ...

projects in the world. Agumbe in the

Shimoga district Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a Districts of India, district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Western Ghats, Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its adminis ...

, Amagaon in

Belgaum District Belagavi district, formerly also known as Belgaum district, is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The district is known as the sugar bowl of Karnataka with hectares being used for commercial production. It has overtaken Mandya distri ...

, Hulikal 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 (Coorg), in the South Indian ...

Madikeri Madikeri (), earlier called as Mercara is city and headquarters of Kodagu district in the Karnataka state of India. It is recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

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

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 Cherrapunji () - popularly known as, or Sohra - it's original native and official name, is a sub-divisional town (Proposed District) East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It was the traditional capital of ''ka hima Sohra'' ...

of South India". The following were the top 5 places that recorded highest rainfall in statistics 010-2017 The following places recorded highest rainfall with respect to each year 010-2017

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 oscil ...

. 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 of plants) 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 bee ...

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 Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power stations in the state. The importance of rainfall is such that Karnataka sometimes had to resort to costly artificial methods like

cloud seeding Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail, or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from ...

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 fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

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. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

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 Bengaluru and industrial City Hosur. It is a four to eight-lane access controlled highway. The road is part of the National Highway network. The Nati ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

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. 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, 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 Bagalkot district (), is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The district headquarters is located in the town of Bagalkot. The district is located in northern Karnataka and borders Belgaum district, Belgaum, Gadag distr ...

to in the

Udupi Udupi () also known as 'Odipu' () is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Udupi district, and one of the fastest-growing cities in Karnataka. Udupi is one of the top tourist attractions in Karnataka an ...

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 and a major tou ...

and

Koppal Koppal or Koppala is the 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 ...

are the districts which receive the least rainfall whereas

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a fifth largest district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belagavi districts to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shivamogga District, and Udupi District to ...

, Hassan,

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

, Chickmagalur and

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

districts receive the heaviest rainfall.

Notes

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