The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Pathrakadavu will spell disaster for Bharathapuzha: DFO report

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Tuesday, Apr 24, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Pathrakadavu will spell disaster for Bharathapuzha: DFO report

P. Venugopal

The proposed dam will kill 13 streams which feed the river

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The proposed 70-MW Pathrakadavu hydroelectric project will be disastrous to the already degraded Bharathapuzha, according to the Forest official in charge of Silent Valley National Park.

Divisional Forest Officer for Mannarkkad and Silent Valley, K.V. Uthaman, sounds this warning in a report to his department assessing the environmental impact of proposed hydroelectric project, to be located just on the fringes of the national park.

As reported in The Hindu from Palakkad on April 21, the report says "the first and foremost impact [of the project] will be on the long-term viability of the existing Silent Valley National Park."

The report goes on to say that damming the Kunthipuzha for the project will be the last nail on the coffin for the Bharathapuzha, since the Kunthipuzha is one of the few surviving perennial streams emptying into the river.

The Bharathapuzha, once the lifeline of Palakkad and Malappuram districts, is unquestionably the most severely damaged river in the State. Accelerating desertification of Palakkad district, even today the most important rice-growing region in the State, is no longer a contested theme, the report notes.

Not enough water

The Bharathapuzha river basin has a large number of irrigation dams. Yet, there is not enough water here to feed the command areas of these dams. And, with no other alternative, these irrigation dams are now being pressed to perform the more vital role of sourcing the drinking water needs of the towns and villages of the region.

The report notes that the rivulets and streams feeding the Bharathapuzha originate from extremely steep slopes on the flanks of the Western Ghats. The terrain is extremely sensitive ecologically. Wind and rainfall patterns are different in this region from the rest of Kerala due to the 45-kilometre-long gap in the Western Ghats here.

Desertification

"Once the wind-stunted fragile specialised forest growth on the scarps (steep slopes) are disturbed, it would degrade to leave only barren rock," the report says, citing the example of the desertification of several specific stretches of the Western Ghats in this region over the recent years due to disturbances caused by human intervention.

With the tree cover gone, a large number of small watersheds feeding the Bharathapuzha are dead.

The Bharathapuzha river basin, extending over an area of more than 6,000 square kilometres, now has hardly 500 square kilometres of protected forests spread over three territorial and two wildlife divisions. Less than 10 per cent of the river basin is forested. Part of the existing forests is even getting degraded.

The proposed hydroelectric project is to be located on the southern flank of Silent Valley plateau, about 400 metres up the base of the steep slope and 800 metres below the crest.

Thirteen streams originate from this flank. Their channel conditions and the vegetation on their banks indicate that they were perennial in nature in the past. Most of these streams dry up in the summer due to the forest degradation that had taken place in recent years.

The report says that the proposed dam at Pathrakadavu and the seven-kilometre winding road to be constructed up the steep slope to the site of the dam, involving heavy earthwork, would spread damage over a very large patch of forests in this fragile region, killing the streams that feed the Bharathapuzha.

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