A hellish thirst in God’s Own Country

Kerala has 44 rivers. It is blessed by ample rainfall. Yet its ground water levels are falling, its rivers, canals, lakes and backwaters are shrinking, and its people — the State has a population density of 787 people per sq km — are reeling under a severe shortage of potable water.

Right from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod and irrespective of urban-rural divides, there is a mighty thirst in God’s Own Country. Ironically, even Idukki district, which has about 14 reservoirs with a total water area of 14,000 hectares and which accounts for more than 24 per cent of Kerala’s total forest area, has been facing dry spells of the worst kind over the years. To understand the water shortage that Kerala is currently experiencing, one just has to take the situation that currently exists in two regions of the state — the Vypeen island, situated off Kochi, and the picturesque Kuttanad, therice bowl of Kerala.

While Vypeen, home to over 2.25 lakh people, needs at least 17 mld (million litres per day), during summer, barely five mld make it through the pipeline. Part of the problem is that island has to rely on the Aluva pumping station for its water requirements, but this station has to also service Kochi and its suburbs with water from the Periyar. Kochi, where the demand for water has shot up dramatically, is barely able to procure 180 mld. Its actual need is in the region of 240 mld. Today, supplying water to the city’s residents has become a very profitable business in Kochi, with a tanker-load of 10,000 litres commanding Rs 800.

Vypeenites have to wait endlessly before public taps all through the night to procure a little of the precious liquid. As the pressure is always very low, they use "custom-made" hand pumps to draw out as much of the water they can, with each person barely managing to requisition two pots per person. The islanders have forgotten the days when they had the goodfortune of bathing and washing clothes in good water. Saline water drawn from ponds are used for these purposes now. Says Thresiakutty, who lives in Ochanthuruth in Vypeen, "We bathe and wash clothes in the salty water drawn from wells. A precious quantity of potable water is used only for the final rinse."

Water scarcity in Vypeen, which first reared its head over a decade ago, attracts media attention unfailingly as the desperate islanders resort to all manner of agitations to convey their plight. Last year, driven to the wall, hundreds of Vypeenites even laid siege to the city for two consecutive days. It was only after this agitation that the authorities rushed water to the area in tankers and barges.

Observed Charles George, who had led the agitation: "The water that is used up when a toilet in a city flat is flushed once is enough for the cooking needs of a family in Vypeen. But we are not getting even that." His words reflect the grim reality that is threatening the potential of this island to bedeveloped as a residential area. A Hudco-aided Rs 50 crore augmentation project is the only hope that the islanders have now. But there is no guarantee from any quarter as to when it will be commissioned.

Much like the situation in Vypeen island, clean drinking water has long eluded the people of Kuttanad as well. Summer always batters Kuttanad, known as Kerala’s rice bowl, mercilessly and invariably its main source of potable water goes completely dry. Hapless residents then have to make do with what remains in canals and rivers. This water, not entirely surprisingly, is totally polluted with the residue of agro-chemicals, human and animal waste, apart from other organic and industrial effluents.

"It is just because of the mercy of God that we do not die of diseases," exclaimed Ramani, a housewife in Kavalam. But Francis, a social activist, points out that 70 per cent of a casual labourer’s daily earnings of, say, Rs 150-200, goes for medical expenses because skin infections and epidemics of waterbornediseases here have become routine. Although emergency measures launched on a war-footing have been able to contain them so far, there is every possibility of the situation getting out of hand.

Kuttanad’s problem is the need to prevent the ingress of saline water into the region. Several measures have already been undertaken to tackle this, including the construction of the Thottappally Spill Way and the Thanneermukkom bund for protecting paddy land. But this, in turn, has adversely affected the delicate ecosystem, in addition to aggravating water pollution. Since these bunds have disrupted the periodic tidal flow, all sorts of wastes and residue are left to accumulate in the water.

Every year during the summer months, the authorities spend over Rs 50 lakh to bring drinking water to this region, using improvised country craft which double as barges. But the availability of potable water for such relief operations is becoming a problem and the dry public taps on the streets of Kuttanad bear witness tothis.

There are a few schemes to address the problems on the anvil. But they are likely to take years for completion. The Rs 7.5 crore 25 mld Kuttanad water supply scheme, launched way back in 1972, is yet to be fully commissioned. The 18 mld that is currently being treated is being shared between three districts — Thiruvalla, Changanassery and Kuttanad — with the result that Kuttanad is left with only a meagre 6 mld instead of 75 mld, Kuttanad’s minimum requirement. Only the completion of the above project and the Hudco-aided 11 mld Kuttanad augmentation project will make a difference.

Former Alappuzha district collector, Kshatrapathi Shivaji, feels that it is time that the water that is available in Kuttanad itself be treated to make it potable. Says he, "Though the initial cost of the project may be high, this can provide uninterrupted water supply to the region as the water level of the lake in Kuttanad does not recede much during summer."

Behind this story of water shortage is another one –about the careless utilisation of available resources. According to T.N.N. Bhattathiripad, former chief engineer, Kerala Water Authority, much of the water that is available in the state is being washed away into the Arabian Sea owing to the lack of proper storage and distribution facilities. The figures bear him out. Although the 41 west-flowing and three east-flowing rivers are capable of delivering about 72,000 million cubic metre of water every year, only a miserable 5.5 per cent of this gets stored in medium irrigation and hydro-electric dams.

Bhattathiripad strongly recommends the construction of check dams/sub-surface dams across the rivers. This would not only ensure year-round water supply to the people of the state, it would also recharge the ground water table, thereby preventing wells from going dry in summer.

The indiscriminate filling up of paddy fields and wetlands has also affected the ecosystem of the state. These wetlands function as sumps during the monsoon by allowing rain water toseep through and recharge aquifers. The unabated destruction of forests, which check soil erosion, mitigate floods, make the streams flow perennially and keep the climate cool and pleasant, has also contributed to the water shortage in the state.

The State Government has formulated an action plan to tackle the water crisis and set apart Rs 100 crore from the local bodies’ funds for the purpose. Whether this will make a difference, only time will tell. In the meanwhile, ordinary people in the state are left with little option but to spend hours before municipal taps, waiting for water.

(with additional inputs from K Jayaprakash)