PALAKKAD: Just three weeks ago, the Bharathapuzha was flowing to the brim when excess water was released from the Malampuzha and Aliyar dams. Now, all the flood water has flown into the sea and has been wasted. “The last heavy rainfall was experienced on August 21,” said V P Dineshan, senior principal scientist of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Kozhikode.
“The rainwater in the catchment area takes around 48 hours to 72 hours to flow into the sea. Once the surface water runs off, it is the groundwater which is discharged into the surface of the river. What is needed is a regulated flow and towards this end, apart from conservation of water, it needs to be controlled like the Thavanakal regulator in Chaliyar and Manjummel and Pathalam regulator in the Periyar. In times of excess rain, they could be kept open,” he said.
Dineshan said prior to 2000, there were 8 lakh hectares of paddy fields which has now been reduced to 1.78 lakh hectares. The forest cover which was 50 per cent in the 50s has been reduced to 27 per cent now. There are no ‘flood plains’ to hold water and it flows into the river, resulting in bed erosion.The CWRDM has been entrusted to study this aspect. Therefore, the need is for natural conservation, regulated flow during monsoons and restoration of the flood plains, he said.