While deficient rain in the Cauvery basin this year has created a crisis between the riparian States, the authorities seem to have turned a blind eye to the degrading ecosystem in the catchment area, which may be increasingly contributing to the scanty rainfall.
Besides poor rain in Kodagu, which is the main catchment area for the Cauvery, official sources also attribute the crisis this year to poor rainfall in the catchment area of the river Kabini in Wayanad of Kerala, which accentuated the crisis. Hence, an online petition is now doing rounds on social media urging the authorities “to stop destroying the catchment areas of Cauvery.” The petition on change.org launched by forests and hills Wayanad is slowly gaining traction and the petition states that the total catchment of the river was around 1,934.5 sq. km and 95 per cent of the land area of Wayanad drains into river Kabini, which drains roughly 93 tmcft of water into river Cauvery, said the petition.
Incidentally, the Kabini reservoir at Beechanahalli in H.D. Kote used to get filled to the brim three to four times but did not attain the full reservoir level of 2,284 ft this year and even the outflow from the reservoir was low due to corresponding poor inflow from the upstream.
But the cumulative inflow into the reservoir this year was only 37 tmcft and the outflow was about 27 tmcft between June and September 28 this year, according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC). This is in contrast to nearly 17.9 tmcft between June and July in 2014.
Meanwhile, the petition has drawn attention to the growing degradation of the catchment area as one of the reasons for the decline and stated that the destruction of Shola grasslands of Brahmagiri and Muneeshwaran Mudi in the Wayanad region paving way for concrete structures in violation of the law in favour of, what the petition said was, ecologically destructive tourism.
The petition has also pointed out that such destructive trends could impact wildlife and escalate conflict situations as Brahmagiri is an important corridor connecting Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala and Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka to Aaralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala with Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka, said the petition calling for putting an end to buildings at Brahmagiri and Muneeshwaran Mudi, and that the tracts be left pristine to ensure the protection of ecology.
Sources attribute this year’s crisis to poor rainfall in catchment area of Kabini river in Wayanad, Kerala
