The Hindu : Kerala News : Ezhimala project to check groundwater depletion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Ezhimala project to check groundwater depletion

By Mohamed Nazeer

KANNUR, APRIL 7. An integrated watershed management and groundwater recharging programme for the Ezhimala Naval Academy project site okayed by the State Cabinet today will be an answer to the impending dangers of groundwater depletion the area has been facing.

The Rs.1.25-crore project proposed jointly by the Kannur Water Conservation Society (KWCS) and the Navy envisages watershed and rainwater harvesting measures aimed at addressing the problem of groundwater depletion detected in the area by hydrologists.

Conceived as a Centrally-sponsored scheme with the assistance of the State Government, the State approval of it is expected to accelerate its implementation.

Chandy's initiative

The project that has been gathering dust for some time after it was submitted to the Central Ground Water Board and the State Ground Water Department two years ago has now been salvaged thanks to the interest shown by the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, during his visit to the academy site on April 6, when the District Collector, K. S. Srinivas, drew his attention to the project.

"When I brought the project to the Chief Minister's attention yesterday, he asked me to fax the details of the project. I did so and the project has been approved by the Cabinet,'' Mr. Srinivas has told The Hindu when contacted.

A pilot study in the project site has shown that the area suffers from poor recharge of aquifer. The runoff of the area has been estimated to be 75 per cent. The recharge capacity of the area in relation to the availability of the annual rainfall is 398 million litres in a year, that is three per cent of the annual rainfall. The water conservation project has been drafted for starting artificial recharge methods there that will increase the recharge capacity of the areas, says the Collector who is also chairman of the KWCS.

Watershed areas

The total area of watershed in the project complex is about 1,400 hectares which include 1,000 hectares acquired for the purpose of the academy. The Ezhimala watershed consists of five streams, one of which is on the verge of drying up, according to the project report. The downstream of the streams forming the watershed has been facing salt-water intrusion recently. Salinity intrusion in open-dug wells in the lowland of the area is common.

"There is fear that the area will face acute shortage of drinking water in the near future,'' says the KWCS secretary, D. Krishnanatha Pai. The area is in need of watershed and recharging measures, he says. These measures will lead to enrichment of sub-surface flow of ground water, he adds.

Water conservation

Steep slopes of Ezhimala hill directly leading to the sea accentuate the pace of runoff, according to water conservation experts. This leads to very little infiltration of water in the upper reaches. The artificial recharge methods like gully plugging, digging pits and ponds and other methods will hinder velocity of the runoff and increase percolation, they say.

The urgency of water conservation measures in the area has also been highlighted by the Naval authorities who have estimated a requirement of eight million litres of water for the academy project. The State Government is committed to providing this much water for meeting the functional requirement of the academy. Depleting yield at Kakkadavu in Karyankode river, a major source of water identified for the academy, as well as technical and mechanical problems likely to arise in the 40-km-long distribution line has also underlined the urgency of water conservation measures.

The water conservation methods being carried out here is expected to increase the recharge capacity from the present three per cent to 20 per cent.

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