Forecasts call for an above-average monsoon in India but it won’t be enough to restore depleted groundwater levels in rural areas after two years of below-normal rainfall, says CNN. The monsoon is not expected until June and for the moment, a heatwave is adding to the misery. More than 150 of India’s academics and activists wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in last month to draw attention to the bleak situation, said CNN. “In areas where rains have failed, farmers who depend mainly on rainwater to irrigate their crops have no, or very low, crop yields,” said the letter. “Those who rely on irrigation are also affected, with groundwater sinking and streams and reservoirs drying up.”
The Central Water Commission says the major reservoirs are at less than 20 percent capacity and 75 percent of India’s basins hold less water than their 10-year average. “Even if the rain is good, it cannot compensate,” Nitya Jacob of WaterAid India told CNN. For now, said Jaob, “we are seeing that people don’t have enough water for drinking.”