Adopt a River

Meenachil-Meenathar-Kodoor River Relinking: Rejuvenating the Palamuri Rivulet

The Palamuri is a perennial rivulet in Thiruvanjoor area of Kottayam District in Kerala. It is an approximately 1.5 to 2 km rivulet starting at the Meenachil River and passing through paddy fields before ending in a wetland. As rivulets go, the Palamuri is quite large at 10 metres wide. The Palamuri bridge spans the rivulet and is a local landmark. This rivulet had been neglected for years and was choked by dumped domestic waste, proliferating weeds, and collapsed banks. Rivulet restoration and rejuvenation activities were conducted along the Palamuri. The aim of this activity was to provide free flow of water through 500 meters of the rivulet to promote cultivation in about 30-40 acres of paddy fields dependent on this stretch of the waterbody.

A length of 500 metres was cleaned using heavy machinery (JCBs). Dumped waste was removed and the rivulet was deweeded and desilted. Both banks were cleaned and reinforced where it had collapsed. It took 3 days to restore 500 metres and the rivulet now has a depth of 6 feet with free flow of water.

Since the river relinking project bagan, more than 2000 acres of abandoned paddy fields have been brought back in to cultivation, but few isolated pockets such as the Palamuri system remain. Restoring the remaining length of the Palamuri rivulet will enable paddy cultivation in almost 150 more acres  of abandoned fields.

Manimala River: Changing Course towards Sustainability

In association with the Ente Manimalayar Peoples Collective, two activities took place starting from the Pazhayidom check dam area

1. Cleanup Drive: Plastic and other non-degradable wastes clogged near Pazhayidom Check dam, near Manimala were removed. Student volunteers collected plastic wastes trapped in lowlying tree branches along the river bank. At the check dam itself, a large amount of waste plus plant debris including branches and small tree trunks (washed down during the flood) was trapped. This was snagged and drawn up to the bank. The quantity is estimated at about a couple of hundred kilogram of plastic waste alone. The waste was dried and sorted and transported to the recycling unit by the Haritha Karma Sena workers.
2. Bamboo plantation drive: 800 bamboo saplings were planted along the Manimala river banks to improve riparian vegetation and prevent soil erosion. A total of almost 4 km has been covered during the plantation drive. The plantations are being done on both banks of the river depending on soil condition. About 20 saplings were planted during the inauguration ceremony at check dam area. This site was found vandalized a couple of days later with the saplings ripped out. The area has since been been replanted with fresh bamboo saplings.

Manimala River Conservation is the group effort of TIES, Ente Manimalayar (My Manimala River) People's Collective and Haritha Keralam Mission (Green Kerala Mission) of the Kerala State Government.
 
For the abovementioned activities, TIES jointly worked with Haritha Kerala Mission, Department of Forests & Wildlife (Social Forestry Division), Govt. of Kerala, Manimala Gram Panchayat, Kanjirappally Gram Panchayat, and Erumely Gram Panchayat. Haritha Karma Sena workers, NSS volunteers from St. Dominic’s College (Kanjirappally), St.Mary's College (Manarcaud) and SPC students from NSS School (Manimala) participated in the cleaning and greening drive.

These efforts may seem small when considered individually. But considering the number of people who took time out to work together to make the activities a success, it becomes obvious that the ripple of change is starting to reach more and more people in the community. Thanks to your support, we will be able to restore, conserve and project many more kilometers of river and many more acres of land.

Rejuvenation of riverine system is an approach to conserve the riverbed, riparian ecosystem and most importantly, the watershed. It aids re-establishing adequate flow of water in rivulets that have been encroached or have dried up. The sustainability of such an initiative is entirely dependent on community participation. 

Meenachil is the main river passing through 34 Gram Panchayats and 4 municipalities in Kottayam district in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Meenanthara and Kodoor rivers are its tributaries. These three rivers were connected in the past at many locations through small streams and rivulets (puzha), but many such connections have since been lost because of change in land use and encroachments. Cutting off small water channels in this manner has resulted in thousands of acres of paddy fields turning barren. The Meenachil River was once an ideal breeding ground for more than 70 varieties of fishes but now the aquatic diversity has been drastically depleted because of decreasing inflow of water. Illegal sand mining has also altered the original course of the river.

Meenachil-Meenanthara-Kodoor Rejoining Peoples Collective (MMKRPC) evolved to rejuvenate these three rivers by re-joining them through the connecting rivulets and streams. As technical partner to this massive project, TIES has the responsibility for research, developing initiatives, implementing activities and reaching out to potential partners to support project activities such as the one at Elipulikkattukadavu.

River Relinking at Elipulikkattukadavu

Elipulikkattukadavu is on the Meenanthara river near Kottayam. The area is criss-crossed with a number of distorted and polluted rivulets. In some locations, the original paths of the streams had been completely blocked by soil deposition, weed growth and dumped household waste. During the course of this project, obstructions to free flow of water were removed, rivulet banks reinforced and, wherever necessary, new bridges were constructed for ease of access.

There was hands-on participation with the community turning out in force armed with shovels and buckets. Heavy machinery had to used in some instances when illegal encroachments were removed or restrained. The work was accomplished with all sections of the community participating; farmers, local women self-help groups, government officers including representatives of Agriculture and Irrigation Departments, agriculture engineers, scientists, researchers, elected representatives etc.

As a result of this initiative. the revived rivers recharged open wells nearby which helped hundreds of households overcome hydrological drought during the summer of 2018, As part of the project, over 1200 acres of abandoned fields have been restored with paddy cultivation after 20-25 years. Also, during the 2018 flood disaster in Kerala, these rejuvenated rivulets helped in flood control by enabling free onward flow of water.

With the restart of agriculture, the farmers have taken on the responsibility of keeping the water flow uninterrupted and unpolluted, turning formerly abandoned and waste-choked rivulets into beautiful inland waterways.

The project that began at Elipulikkattukadavu and has restored around 156 km of rivulets and streams. Almost 55 rivulets were restored as part of this. The Meenachil-Meenathara-Kodoor river complex still has more than 3000 small streams and rivulets that have been killed by neglect. Reviving these areas would give a new lease of life to many acres of farmlands. These areas are being mapped and the community engaged with in preparation for similar projects.

We usually hear of rivers bringing life to man, but with your support, we have been able to bring life to rivers. We cannot thank you enough for being a part of this massive effort and we look forward to sending you more updates on our activities.