The Hindu Business Line : Acute water shortage in many places in Kerala

DROUGHT conditions prevailing mainly in the midlands and highlands have already resulted in acute drinking water shortage in several parts of the State. As the summer season has just begun, a serious crisis is feared in the months to come, if the summer showers also fail.

Some of the major rivers in the districts of Pathanamthitta, Palakkad and Kollam have dried up. The water level in most of the wells in the region have either hit the bottom or dried up, according to environmental activists.

Even in the low-lying areas of Kuttanad in Alappuzha, drinking water shortage has become acute for want of adequate flow upstream. This has resulted in the saline water entering the rivers, making it unfit for consumption.

Drinking water shortage in several parts of Kerala has become a recurring phenomenon in recent years.

Even a 20 per cent fall in the monsoon rains is making the situation worse. The State used to receive on an average 3,000 mm of rains during the southwest and northeast monsoons every year. But, last year it was deficient by around 20 per cent.

About 60 per cent of the rains are normally received during June, July and August, 25-30 per cent in the months of September, October and November and about 10-15 per cent as summer showers. The statistics for the past 10 years reveal that the rainfall spread over on an average 35 days in a year.

Indiscriminate sand mining from the rivers in recent years has lowered the riverbed by an average four meters and in some places like Parumala and Aranmula in the Pampa river areas, it has gone down by six metres, according to Mr N.K.S. Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi. The water flow in the rivers has almost stopped and there are only ponds at different points. Consequently, the ground water table has fallen resulting in the drying up of wells, he said.

Add to this the reclamation of wetlands for construction purposes. In the past, the paddy fields used to hold water for 90 days and this used to recharge the wells. Now the situation has changed following abandonment of paddy cultivation for various reasons. Thus, the water cycle is absent now, Mr Nair pointed out.

In the past, the State had traditional water conservation system. In the villages, at several points there used to be kavu and kulams (sacred groves and ponds) and they were, in fact, scientific and natural water conservation system. They have disappeared either as a result of pressure on land or removed as part of the modernisation drive.

Besides, the rampant deforestation in the State in recent years has reduced the forest cover. In fact, forests conserve 50 to 60 per cent of the rainwater. As the forest cover has dropped to 9 per cent of the total area of the State, this natural mechanism has also become weak, Mr Nair pointed out.

Diversion of water by erecting dams in the upstreams of Chalakkudypuzha, Bharathapuzha, Chaliyar and their tributaries to Tamil Nadu has also reduced the water flow in these rivers, leading to water shortage in their basins downstream, he said.

According to a white paper issued in 1999 by the State Government, there would be a drop of 459 cu.m of water in the Achankoil river and 3,537 cu.m in the river Pampa by the year 2050. The water flow into Kuttanadu through various rivers was put at 12,582 cu.m while the water required for various purposes in their basins is estimated at 15,108 cu.m.

The entire rainwater falling in the State during the monsoons and the summer rains flow down through the 44 rivers to the backwaters or the sea in 48 hours, as there is no provision to hold the water in the high and midlands.

The reasons for the drop in the ground water table are the indiscriminate exploitation of river, forests, etc., and this needs to be arrested, Mr Nair said.

Measures to conserve rainwater by raising check dams at various points upstream of the rivers and rainwater harvesting could alleviate this problem to a great extend, he added.