The Dying River - Bharatapuzha

         The most important river system of Kerala, Bharatapuzha [Nila], the lifeline of Palakkad Malappuram and Thrissur districts,is getting dried up as the water flow to the river has come to a standstill in most of its courses during this summer.Though the river usually gets dried up during summer in small patches, this is the first time in the last several years that it got completely dried up in large stretches.Thus for all practical purposes, the holy river is dead, thanks to the ecological imbalances created by the human wantonness.Out of the 44 rivers of Kerala, this river was the most exploited and neglected one. The Government did not pay heed to earlier warnings about the imminent dangers facing the holy river.

A victim of PAP pact
      The half a dozen dams, constructed across its tributaries under the Parambikulam Aliar Project [PAP] inter-state water sharing agreement between Kerala and Tamil Nadu have resulted in this sad state of affairs of Nila. The major chunk of water from these dams that would have come to the to the Bharatapuzha and Chaliyar river basins was diverted to Tamil Nadu.
Of late,the PAP agreement has become controversial due to the shortage of irrigation water for paddy cultivation in the Chittur taluk of Palakkad and water flow to Bharatapuzha.Though the State Governmnt had demanded its Tamil Nadu counterpart to revise the PAPagreement and release more water to Kerala, it had failed to highlight the fast death ofBharatapuzha river.The question here is not the technicalities involved in the violation of an agreement,but to avert the death of a great river system. Many feel that the State Government should have taken it as a political issue with Tamil Nadu,to save Bharatapuzha.
      An expert committee appointed by the State Government to study the problems of Bharatapuzha in 1997 found that the river faced a host of problems. The report said that excessive sand mining, lowering of watertable in and around the river,lowering of the river bed,encroachment on banks,contamination of water, and erotion of river banks were the major problems faced by the river.The committee report warned that,"with the present rate of extraction of sand it is clear
that the reserves would not last more than five to six years, even assuming that such extration is permitted in spite of the consequent impact of serious degradation of the river channel and enviornment".
      The committee, in its first report submitted to the State Government in July 1997,recommended a total ban a total ban on sand extraction during the monsoon months.It also recommended a ban on inter-state transportation of sand from rivers in Kerala and entry of vehicles in the river channel to collect sand. But all these recommendations were not implemented by the authorities concerned, the activists of the Save Bharatapuzha Committee said.

   Mr. M.T.Vasudevan Nair,noted writer, said that he was greatly pained
at the near loss of this holy river to Kerala. Mr. Vasudevan Nair, who hails from Koodallur on the banks of Nila, said most of his works are tales of Nila. He said the river is almost dead due to ecological imbalance created by human wantonness.Prof. N.N.Namboodiri, who is working on "Project Nila: a study on its cultural heritage",said that the evolution of society in this part took place on the banks of this sacred river.There were 300 temples on the banks of the river controlled by the Zamorin`s of Kozhikode.The political war on the banks of Nila and the markets emerged here also had historical importance.
             A recent study on the "Environmental on water resources of Bharatapuzha river system",by Mr. K.K.Nair a professional hydrologist, said that loss of the natural springs was a major reason for the drying up of this river. "Once the basin had a number of natural springs,which had supplied the water to the third crop of paddy cultivation in valleys. Now-a- daysmost of them are drying up before the second harvest".He said that in the name of development almost almost all sources of the river had been blocked by constructing as much as 11 dams in different location on the river-head. After storing the capable quantity of water, the dams are closed. Therefore the water which can be stored by these dams is being blocked and diverted through the canals. Besides this, the remaining water on the upper areas of the dams is also diverted through the canals by thedams. Hence the entire water on the uooer region is being blocked and diverted through the
canals by the dams. This has reduced the sources of the river.Bharatapuzha may soon become part of history if urgent steps are not taken to revive this holy river.

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