THANJAVUR: Cauvery, the river that nourishes all who flocked her banks, has long been an apple of discord between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But, the din of the mudslinging between the two riparian states drowns the river’s plea for help as pollution, deforestation, and climate change bleed it dry at a thousand spots.
Once a perennial river, Cauvery originates at Talakaveri in Karnataka’s Coorg district in the Western Ghats. It flows for a distance of around 800 km through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu before emptying into the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai. Along its course, the river irrigates around 18 lakh acres in Karnataka and 25 lakh acres in Tamil Nadu, which also uses it to provide drinking water to nearly 19 districts.
It’s this lifeline of millions that is under threat from a plethora of problems, mostly man-made. “The deforestation in the Cauvery catchment area in the Western Ghats in Karnataka is a major threat to the river,” said P Maniyarasan, Coordinator of the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee (CRRC). Trees were being felled in large numbers in that area to make way for roads and habitations, he claimed. “The CRRC joined hands with residents of those areas to protest against the deforestation,” he said. According to environmentalists, trees are critical to the health of a river as they hold water in the soil, releasing it gradually to waterbodies. With them out of the equation, soil erosion, flash floods and droughts would become the order of the day.
Also, effluent from industrial units and sewage from the cities like Bengalaru are discharged into Cauvery and its tributaries, he said. “Effluent from industries in Tamil Nadu in places like Mettur and Erode also pollutes the river,” Maniyarasan added. His statements were attested by the documents submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) before the Supreme Court in a case filed by Tamil Nadu government against pollution of Cauvery in Karnataka.
“A major threat to Cauvery is from Karnataka’s refusal to adhere to the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT)’s final award and the Supreme Court’s order on the water dispute,” says Maniyarasan. Also, if the proposed dam at Mekedatu is built, water flow in Cauvery would diminish drastically, he said. Even the environmental groups in Karnataka are opposing the Mekedatu project as it would wreak havoc on the environment, including deforestation.
Nakkeeran, an environment activist and author of books on ecology from Tiruvarur, said Climate Change, too, is affecting the river. “Global warming causes heavy downpours in brief periods of time, resulting in floods in the river.” This affects agricultural planning, leading to lesser output and food shortage, he said, adding that deforestation in the catchment areas is already causing harm to the Cauvery ecosystem.
Nevertheless, there have been a few initiatives to face the climate change effects on Cauvery system. The implementation of the first phase of the climate adaptation in the Vennar sub-basin project with the funding of Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a cost of Rs 960 crore is underway. The project, mostly taken up in Tiruvarur district, is in advanced stage of completion.
An ancient river
Cauvery figures prominently in ancient Tamil literature. “It has been mentioned as a perennial river in the Sangam literature (100 BCE-250 CE),” says historian Kudavayil Balasubramanian. “In the Tamil epic Silappathikaram, written in the second century CE, the full flowing Cauvery is mentioned,” he added. Inscriptions found in Tiruchendurai and Musiri in Tiruchy also have mentions of the river
Water Dispute
Disputes over Cauvery’s water date back to the Colonial time with the then princely state of Mysore and the Madras Presidency sparring over sharing the water. This continued even after Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were formed post the Independence. The solution came with the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) in 2007 and the Supreme Court’s order in 2018