The failure of tht' Stale Covernment to get the due share of water from the interState Parambikulam Ali­yar Project (PAP) from Tamil Nadu, which has diverted the major share of water by build­ing half-a-dozen dams, has re­sulted in the drying up of Bharathapuzha (Nila), the long­est river in the State.

The 12 dams constructed in Bharathapuzha and its tributar­ies and indiscriminate sand­mining throughout the course of the river system have resulted in the complete drying up of the river. The stone inscription at the Parambikulam Wild Life Sanctuary, Palakkad District, describes the PAP Agreement, an inter-State water sharing agreement between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as an ou~standing example of inter-State cooper­ation between ,two neighbour­ing States. But, of late, this agreement has become contro­versial particularly due to the callousness on the part of the Kerala Government to get the agreement revised even after 10 years of its expiry. Bharathapuz­ha provides water to 175 gram panchayats in Palakkad, Thris­sur and Malappuram districts. The river system as a whole is the main source of fresh water in the entire basin which comes to about 1/9 of the total area of the State.

The Bharathapuzha ongl­nates at an elevation of 1,900m above msl and has a length of 209 km. It originates in the Ana­malai Ranges of Tamil Nadu as Aliyar and enters Kerala as Chit­turpuzha. Besides these, 'a num­ber of streams and springs join it during its course. The point of confluence of Chitturpuzha and Kalpathipuzha is Parli from where the river gets its common name Bharathapuzha.

The river basin has two main reservoirs in Tamil Nadu viz Thirumoorthy and Aliyar, and seven reservoirs in Kerala viz Kanhirapuzha, Malampuzha, Walayar, Meenkara, Chulliar, Pothundy afld Mangalam. Be­sides, two major diversion sys­tems, Moolathara regulator and Cheerakuzhi, are also there in the basin.

The PAP agreement, commis­sioned in the early 1960s, is ba­sically a series of reservoirs, interconnected by canals, chan­nels and tunnels. Water stored in these reservoirs is shared by Kerala and Tamil Nadu as per the conditions of the PAP agree­ment signed between them. There are eight major dams, 2 weirs, 300 km of canals and 31 km of tunnels which constitute the essential framework of the PAP. The PAP project has direct impact on the basin of the Peri- yar river, Chalakkudi river and Bharathapuzha river.

The Kerala Government's memorandum demanding re­view of the PAP agreement, which expired a few years back, said that "most of the water re­ceived in the Kerala catchment area would have flowed down to Kerala in the normal course but for tlle diversion of this flow to Tamil Nadu,. Normally, Kerala should have got a portion of the discharge in the upper riparian State in recognition of its status as lower riparian State. Tf this share is taken as at least 50 per cent, the entitlement of Kerala should have been 41.71 TMC against the present 15.912 TMC".

The first report of the Expert Committee, constituted by the Government of Kerala, on Bha­rathapuzha and its problems found that the "system today is seriously affected by unsustain­able exploitation of its re­sources. The system is affected by over-utilisation of its surface and ground water resources particularly in the lean period; indiscriminate sand removal; pollution from industries and agriculture and human settle­ments, both rural and urban, and deforestation.

The report said that the river and the adjacent valleys repre­sent a valuable aquifer support­ing life. The over-exploitation of the aquifer is reflected in sub­stantial lowering of the water levels along the river from Lak­kidi to Thirunavaya. The levels have been reported to have dropped by 1 to 1.5 meters. Practically all the pumping sta­tions along the river catering to the drinking water supply have reported capacity decrease and several have been remodelled.

The lowering of the level has af­fected wells and irrigation of garden lands in adjoining areas. This represents a serious social and economic loss. The salinity problems at Thirunavaya are in­creasing. A striking ecological impact is the growth of wild vegetation in large areas of the erstwhile sand beds.

The latest example of pump­ing well getting dried up is at Pattambi where a new well was constructed in the river bed three meters deep from the ex­isting well tha"t had dried up. As all the pumping stations in the river had dried up, water was let out from the Malampuzha  The hydrological study cond­ducted by K.K. Nair on Bharath-apuzha , condItIOn all sources of the rive~ have fixed as per the directive  been blocked and dlverted . that the deci­through the canals by con- sion to this effect be stIUcting 11 big dams in differ- reconsidered Issect e oc s III anum. 

By Our Staff Reporter PALAKKAD, APRIL 24, The Hindu - 2002.