Local monsoon variability and rainwater harvesting

All India Monsoon Rainfall (AIMR) has been a good measure for the average rainfall over the Indian subcontinent leading to numerous studies on its relation to other climatic parameters that may assist in its statistical and dynamical prediction. The AIMR-ENSO relation in particular has been studied extensively and has demonstrable skill for short lead time forecasts although this correlation is non-stationary. The regional variations within the Indian subcontinent are not as well studied since the role of boundary forcing becomes less and less robust at smaller scales. North Karnataka is part of the semi-arid southwest India with an average annual rainfall of ~700mm with very high variance. It shows statistically insignificant correlation with AIMR or ENSO and is characterized by short-term secular trends. Increased population pressure, land use change, and a lack of sustainable water resource management have led to numerous urban, peri-urban, and rural problems such as groundwater contamination and depletion. A systems based approach to watershed management techniques by an NGO called BIRD-K are restoring soil water content and groundwater levels. These exceptionally relevant techniques are being applied with no direct input from vast knowledge base of monsoon variability and its relation to large scale climate variability and change. This study is an attempt to connect physical climate studies to the practical implementation of watershed management and rainwater harvesting in a semi-arid region of the Indian monsoon domain.