Dumping of solid waste, saline water intrusion are main factors, says survey

Aggressive human intervention, especially indiscriminate sand mining in southern Kerala's major rivers such as the Pampa, the Manimala and the Achankoil, has driven almost all the tributaries of th

Urbanisation, influx of pilgrims, fertilizer-intensive farming, and indiscriminate sand-mining have impacted on the water quality of Manimala river, a major source of drinking water in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.

A report published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, an international journal devoted to progress in the use of monitoring data in assessing environmental risks to man and environment, highlights the deterioration in water quality caused by human intervention, especially in the upper reaches of the Manimala river.

The district administration will prepare a comprehensive action plan for the conservation of the Pampa, Manimala, Achenkovil, and Kallada rivers which course through the district, District Collecto

G.K. Nair

Aggressive human intervention, especially the indiscriminate sand mining in southern Kerala's major rivers, such as Pampa, Manimala and Achankoil, has driven almost all the tributaries of these rivers, which once used to facilitate agriculture activities and water transport in the region, to the verge of death.

Rivers in the southwest coast of India are under immense pressure due to various kinds of human activities among which indiscriminate extraction of construction grade sand is the most disastrous one. The situation is rather alarming in the rivers draining the Vembanad lake catchments as the area hosts one of the fast developing urban-cum-industrial centre, the Kochi city, otherwise called the Queen of Arabian Sea. The Vembanad lake catchments are drained by seven rivers whose length varies between 78 and 244 km and catchment area between 847 and 5,398 km2.