THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government is mulling the formation of a river basin authority on the lines of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) to ensure ecological flow of rivers in the state. The NGRBA has recently issued a notification setting the limits for minimum flow of water in River Ganga (e-flow) as part of rejuvenating the river.
Speaking to Express, a senior bureaucrat said the state government is planning to set up a river basin authority which will have a mandate of ensuring the ecological flow required for sustaining a healthy river ecosystem, implementing river basin management programme including desilting, checking river pollution and a lot more. It is on a preliminary stage, but it will soon become a reality, he said.
Haritha Keralam Mission executive vice chairperson T N Seema told Express, the mission has submitted a proposal in this regard to the government after holding a workshop of various stakeholders in the sector. The body will be formed with an objective of rejuvenating the rivers by adopting a river basin approach for the comprehensive planning and management of the rivers in the state.
Abraham Koshi, former chief engineer with the Water Resource Department and consultant of the project, said the state has 44 major rivers and various departments and organisations are involved in the conservation of rivers. In this backdrop, the mission comes up with a proposal of a Central River Basin authority with representation from various departments like Irrigation, Forest, Environment, Soil Conservation, LSG and other organisations.
The body will have an executive committee and four cluster level river basin authorities which will be responsible for implementing the river basin management programmes, preventing pollution, maintaining minimum ecological flow and other relevant measures, he said.
Recently, a study conducted on environmental flow modelling using ‘Flow Health’ of the Chalakkudi sub-basin by Sudheer Padikkal, joint director, Water Resource Department, Palakkad, has found the river requires an additional 92Mm3 water annually to retain a healthy ecosystem of Chalakudy sub-basin which is an over-abstracted river basin with six large dams built across its different tributaries. The report published in the international journal Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, has stated in the January to May period, especially during February to April, the river basin has no natural flow required to maintain the health of the river or its ecosystem. This is mainly due to the Chalakkudi basin’s hydrologic alteration caused by the Parambikulam-Aliyar project (PAP) agreement.
Setting a minimum environmental flow design and its implementation is a critical aspect in conserving river basins
At present, the conservation of river is a task entrusted with various departments
Introducing a body with representation from various departments will speed up decision making and its implementation
A Central River Basin Authority, an executive committee, four cluster-level river basin authorities are proposed