Record-wet village now running dry
NZPA-AP New Delhi Cherrapunji, an Indian village that holds the world record for rainfall, is running short of drinking water. “The Statesman,” an independent daily published in New Delhi, reports that the tiny community in Assam, 10km north of the Bangladesh border, is short of portable water because deforestation in the region has turned once-lush land to barren
gravel. The paper said a sign posted by the Public Water Department near the village reads: “The source of water is gradually going dry and, hence, whatever water is being supplied is to be used economically.” Adding insult to injury, the paper said, the inability of Cherrapunji soil to retain rainfall had added to flooding problems on the Bangladesh plains.
Cherrapunji holds three rainfall titles in “The Guinness Book of Records”:
• Greatest rainfall in a calendar month, 366.14 inches (929 cm in July, 1861;
• Greatest rainfall in a year, 1041.78 inches (2646 cm in 1860-61; and, ® Wettest place, based on annual mean rainfall, 451.8 inches (1147 cm in the 100 years ending in 1960.
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Press, 30 May 1986, Page 6
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177Record-wet village now running dry Press, 30 May 1986, Page 6
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