How a Kerala village panchayat revived a dying river

Kuttemperoor river in its flow-less, weed-ridden state.

The river had gone through a lot of abuse. Unsustainable sand mining of the river bed causes degradation of rivers and has a thoroughly detrimental effect on the lives of aquatic flora and fauna, explains N K Sukumaran Nair, environmentalist and general secretary of Pampa Parirakshana Samiti, a voluntary NGO to save river Pampa. According to Nair, there once used to be many fish in the river. “The fisherman are very happy now that fishes have started appearing again in the river”, he says. The project to regenerate the river, was proposed in 2013. But the herculean task kept pending due to a lack of funding and finally pushed through, spearheaded by the Budhanoor panchayat, in November last year. It was finished on March 20. A month and a half into the cleaning process, the water, heretofore mostly stagnant, began to flow again.

Removal of the bulky weeds was followed by removal of the plastic waste at the river bottom and they finally reached the accumulated, sedimented layers of silt and solid waste covering the river bed. The cleaning process was no easy task and certainly not without risk — Panicker mentions poisonous water weeds and the danger of crocodiles — but the labourers finished the task exemplarily like socially aware individuals committed to the cause — a fact that deserves be highlighted, he strongly feels.

Kuttemperoor: A river revived

Illegal encroachment on Kerala’s various rivers is still poses a serious problem that remains difficult to deal with. As water bodies shrank under ongoing local indifference, the land areas they leave exposed, got encroached upon by others. The Commissionerate of Land Revenue under Kerala government’s Revenue department should survey the river banks, set benchmarks and take strict action against encroachers, N K Sukumaran Nair feels. The Kuttemperoor river, which was once more than 100 feet wide is after rejuvenation still only about 20-25 feet wide, due to the encroachment, says Nair. Getting such encroached land vacated is a difficult task and when the encroachers happen to be a poor community themselves, it also has to be dealt with with sensitivity. The issue also tends to get politicised and brushed under the carpet due to vote banks associated with the populations living on it. But if water bodies are to be saved, there is no choice.

When asked about the future and preservation of the delightful results of their endeavor, Panicker admits that is the real challenge. “We have submitted a detailed project report to the government to desilt the river and for promoting eco-tourism in the region. We have also conducted awareness program with the people to not pollute the river anymore”, he says.

Kerala Public Works minister G Sudhakaran taking touring the river in a boat, after its revival.