The Hindu : Kerala News : River-linking project may spell doom for State

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Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

River-linking project may spell doom for State

By Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

PATHANAMTHITTA, JUNE 19. With the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government too appearing to be seriously pursuing the controversial Rs. 5.6-lakh-crore river-linking project prepared by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), the State is to witness an environmental disaster as well as a socio-economic crisis, especially in the Central Travancore districts of Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Alappuzha and the Kuttanad region.

Disposing of a petition in April, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to furnish the details of the ``progress made on the court's earlier suggestion for enacting legislation to take control of the rivers across the country to facilitate its interlinking.'' The Pampa-Achencoil-Vaipar Link Project (PAVLP), estimated at Rs. 2,588 crores, is one among the eight projects the Central Government is planning to implement in the first phase. The PAVLP proposes diversion of 634 million cubic metres (mcm) of `surplus' water from rivers Pampa and Achencoil in Kerala to Tamil Nadu for irrigation in the water-deficit Vaipar river basin.

Various environmental organisations in the State have condemned the reported move to divert water from the Kerala rivers to Tamil Nadu. The Pampa Parirakshana Samithy (PPS), an eco group that has been campaigning for the cause of the Pampa since the past one decade, had warned against the implementation of the PAVLP. The NWDA studies showed that the Pampa and Achenkoil rivers in Kerala had a total `surplus water of 3127 mcm after meeting the present and future needs' of the State. The NWDA report said that a portion of this `surplus' water, if diverted, would irrigate 91,400 hectares of land in the drought-prone districts of Tirunelveli, Chidambaranar and Kamarajar in Tamil Nadu, besides generation of peaking power of 500 mW through a pumped storage scheme. The scheme also proposes a regulated release of 150 mcm during the lean period to Kerala.

The PPS general secretary, N.K. Sukumaran Nair, alleged that the NWDA studies on the Pampa and Achenkoil as well as the PAVLP were totally unscientific and partisan. The detailed study conducted by the Kozhikode-based Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) had ultimately rendered the NWDA study baseless, the PPS leader alleged.

The 176-km-long Pampa is the third largest river in the State with a catchment area of 2,235 sq. km. and Pampa-Kallar is one of its tributaries that joins the former at Vadasserikkara. The Achenkoil is another river which joins the Pampa at Veeyapuram in Alappuzha district.

These two rivers, regarded as the lifeline of Central Travancore and the backwaters of Kuttanad, empty out into the Vembanad lake. Moreover, the Vembanad wetland system has been declared as a Ramsar site in view of its rich aquatic ecology.

Any diversion of water from these two rivers would definitely lead to an environmental and ecological disaster, Mr Nair said. As per the CWRDM studies, the total annual utilisable yield of the 10 rivers draining out into the Vembanad wetland system is 12,582 mcm, where as the water demand in these river basins for domestic use, irrigation, industrial purposes, etc., is 22,268 mcm.

It says that the Achenkoil and Pampa will have a deficit of fresh water of 459 mcm and 337 mcm respectively by 2051 AD. The study said that, in the present circumstances, not less than 4,745 mcm of water is required for flushing out the pollutants from the Vembanad wetlands.

Experts say that the pollution level of the water sources in Kuttanad is alarmingly high and any further reduction in fresh water flow and subsequent changes in the hydro period will lead to irreparable damage to the wetland system.

It is noteworthy that both the Pampa and Achenkoil turn dry along many stretches during summer leading to acute drought situation even on the river banks.

The Central Water Commission station at Edayaranmula near Chengannur have found salinity intrusion into the Pampa up to Aranmula, 40 km towards the upstream reaches of the river during summer.

It is also a fact that Kerala is facing bitter experiences as Tamil Nadu `diverts' several west-flowing streams from the catchment areas of Chalakkudypuzha, Bharathappuzha and Chaliyar to its border areas, keeping the former in the dark, alleges the PPS general secretary. The Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government too has included the interlinking of rivers in its main agenda.

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