ALAPPUZHA: The water available for farmers in the State from the dams here would be less than the quantity available for farmers of Tamil Nadu from the dams situated in Kerala exclusively for Tamil Nadu's needs if the Pampa-Achencoil-Vaipar Link Canal project is implemented. Further, the project is also likely to aggravate shortage of drinking water in Central Travancore.

At present, there are five dams in the State that provide water to Tamil Nadu for irrigation purpose — Mullaperiyar, Parambikkulam, Peruvarippallam (Parambikkulam group of dams), Thunakkadavu and Shiruvani.

The total capacity of dams that provide water to the farmers of the State is 1,500 million cubic metres (MCM). The total storage capacity of various dams in the State that provide water to Tamil Nadu is currently around 1,000 MCM.

The individual capacity of the dams that provide water to Tamil Nadu is: Mullaperiyar - 443.5 MCM, Parmbikkulam group of dams - 538 MCM and Shiruvani - 18.4 MCM. The proposed Pampa-Achencoil-Vaipar Link Canal project would have a capacity of 743.6 MCM when completed. Thus the total capacity of various dams in the State that provide water to Tamil Nadu would be over 1,700 MCM if the PAVLC is implemented.

It is pointed out that the State does not have adequate fresh water to meet the requirements of several lakhs of people in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts. Still large quantities of fresh water from the rivers of the State are being given to Tamil Nadu for irrigation purpose. The Kuttanad taluk, spread over the above three districts, experiences acute shortage of drinking water every summer.

Cherthala and Ambalappuzha taluks of Alappuzha district are reeling under drinking water shortage, as the groundwater here is not fit for drinking.

The State Government is at present implementing separate projects for Cherthala taluk and Alappuzha town to provide drinking water to the people of the area. The drinking water project for Alappuzha town envisages supply of freshwater collected from the Achencoil river to the residents here.

Meanwhile, it is also pointed out that among South Indian States, the storage capacity of dams is the least in Kerala. While the total storage capacity of the dams in the State is at present 5,000 MCM, the Almati dam in Karnataka alone has a storage capacity of 6,000 MCM. Moreover, the State has the least number of dams in the country. Water resource experts point out that the State needs to build more dams for its use rather than allowing construction of dams across the intra-State rivers of the State.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail