BBC: India's wettest place 'lacks water'

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8378327.stm

India's wettest place 'lacks water'

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Cherrapunji

Once the world's wettest places, Cherrapunji is getting up to 20% less rain every year - and is suffering water shortages.

Residents say their heavenly abode in the clouds is hotter and drier than ever before - and they blame it on global warming.

Cherrapunji - or Sohra in the local Khasi language - is located in the West Khasi Hills of India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

"Never were there very big forests around Cherrapunji and many of those that are there are sacred to us," says Millergrace Symlieh, a senior member of Sohra Science Society.

"We never cut a branch in these sacred forests. So you cannot say this adverse weather change is our creation. We are affected by what's happening all over the world," he told the BBC.

…