The Hindu Business Line : Sand miners strike at the heart of rivers in Kerala

Despite restrictions on river sand mining, truckloads of sand are removed and smuggled out in connivance with law-enforcing authorities, it is alleged.

The shape of the Pampa riverbed in some stretches.

Kochi , Jan. 25

THE indiscriminate sand mining from the rivers in Kerala has become a major threat to environment as most of them have been transformed into "skeleton streams" pushing down the underground water tables in the basins of these rivers.

The unscientific sand mining has deepened the riverbed by three to four metres during the past two decades while in some areas it has gone down by even six metres.

The quantum of sand mined every year is several-fold more than what flows down and accumulate in the riverbeds during the monsoons.

As a consequence the hydraulic gradient of the underground water is raised resulting in these water flowing down to the river and then runs down fast to the sea.

The hydraulic gradient when falls to below the levels of wells and ponds etc., all these would dry up. As a result, the water level in most of the wells in the basins have fallen drastically even now and at this rate during the peak summer months they would dry up.

Besides, such a situation would result in the death of plants, as the underground water level would be far below its roots network, Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, an environmental activist and General Secretary, Pamba Parirakshana Samithi told Business Line.

The current rate of daily mining is so high that the damage is irreparable. Despite restrictions on sand mining, truckloads of sand are removed and smuggled out in connivance with law-enforcing authorities, he alleged.

The worst-affected rivers are Achankovil, Pamba, Manimala, Meenachel, Muvattupuzha, Periyar and Chalakudy.

According to the studies conducted time to time by the Centre for Earth Sciences Research at Thiruvananthapuram as against the annual arrival of 0.005 million cubic metre (mcm) of sand in Achakovil river 0.50 mcm sand is taken out.

Similiarly, in Pamba as against the arrival of 0.013 mcm a year 0.42 mcm is mined. Thus, in Manimala it is 0.008mcm (0.66 mcm), Meenachel 0.004 mcm (0.98 mcm), Periyar 0.041 mcm (3.47 mcm) and Chalakudi 0.006 (0.46 mcm).

In fact, the contractors have been permitted to mine sand 32 to 100 times more than what is arrived in the riverbed every year, depending upon the social needs of the people in the area. For each truckload of sand taken out from the river the local self-government institutions charge Rs 400 to Rs 600.

Extensive removal of sand from certain rivers has become a threat to a number of old bridges across these rivers as the basement of the pillars of the bridges are fully exposed now. A number of bathing ghats in these rivers, especially in Periyar, Pamba and Manimala have become unusable.

Of course, sand is an essential component required by the construction industry, Mr Nair said. But, at the same time the survival of the bio-system solely depends on the water resources and for its sustenance the river sand is an inevitable factor.

According to another environmental expert if the current trend of sand mining were allowed to continue, in the very near future it would become a scarce commodity in Kerala. Such a situation would result in a crisis in the construction sector with a spill over effect in connected sectors and employment.

He said that there should evolve a system where by the use of sand could be reduced or even avoided in the constructions. All the ancient architectural edifices in the State were built without using sand.

They were constructed according to the Vastuvidya methods existed in the State. Even in the construction of the huge dams of the hydro-electric projects such as Idukki, Kakki, Cheruthoni sand was not used and instead crushed granite sand was used, he pointed out. Therefore, in order to save the rivers from further destruction some alternative should have to be found by the scientific research institutions and the engineering colleges, he said.

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