“More rainfall could mean more groundwater recharge and more water availability, but if that increasing rainfall is delivered in more severe storms, increased flooding may be a downside to greater precipitation,” noted James Famiglietti of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is the co-author of the study.
Tushaar Shah, an economist and public policy specialist at the International Water Management Institute and former director at the Institute of Rural Management at Anand, Gujarat, agrees stating that if the predicted increase in rainfall “comes in fewer, more intense rainfall events, it will not be of much help in the more frequent dry spells.”
Central and southern India appear to be experiencing increasing freshwater stores, likely due to a naturally higher than normal rainfall.