80% rain deficit, Himachal Pradesh stares at unusual winter drought

Even as the meteorological department has forecast a wet spell in Himachal Pradesh over the next few days, districts such as Shimla, Solan and Kangra have been facing their driest spells in many years.

The state has witnessed an 80 per cent rain deficit since January with only 29.7 mm precipitation having been recorded against the normal of 149.4 mm. This has sparked fears of climate change affecting the rainfall and snowfall pattern in the state.

Sources drying up

• Theog in Shimla, Kasauli-Dharampur in Solan and the Sulah and Jaisinghpur areas of Kangra district are facing water scarcity
• Many rivulets and ‘khuds’ like Neugal, Mand, Baner and Binwa in Kangra have dried up & most of the irrigation channels too have no water

Many parts of Himachal Pradesh, including areas like Theog in Shimla, Kasauli-Dharampur in Solan and Sulah and Jaisinghpur in Kangra, are already facing water scarcity as water sources have dried up.

Fearing that Himachal could face an acute water shortage in summer months, Jal Shakti Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has urged the Centre to fund a project for snow and water conservation to recharge groundwater.

Most of the rivulets and “khuds” like Neugal, Mand, Baner and Binwa in Kangra have dried up and most of the irrigation channels too have no water. Solan has suffered a cumulative deficit of 89 per cent in January and February as per data of the meteorological department.

Popular hill station Kasauli in Solan has been hit hard with the district recording only 4.8 mm of rainfall against the normal of 54.9 mm — a 91.3 per cent shortfall. “This is the second consecutive month of deficient rainfall,” said Dr Satish Bhardwaj, head of Department of Environment Sciences, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni.

In the past 25 years, similar extreme deficits were witnessed in 2007, 2016 and 2024. Villages around Kasauli had seen severe water shortage last year also.

Dubbing the situation as alarming, Jal Shakti Department (JSD) officials said, “The number of hours one could pump water from rural water supply schemes like Gorti, which serves villages like Shiller, has reduced from eight to two and a half hours. This highlights the sharp decline in water availability.”

Residents, who received water on alternate days throughout the year, fear the duration would be further reduced. The JSD was forced to draw water from the Giri water scheme to meet water requirements of Dharampur as water is pumped for barely 14 hours now as against 22 hours a few weeks ago. Around 5-6 lakh litres are drawn daily from the Giri scheme that supplies water to Solan city.

Residents fear they would have to spend from their pockets to buy water tankers like last year when the state government had remained a mute spectator and did little to provide relief to them.