Sharing of inter-State river waters of Kerala
The resource below attempts to describe how the inter-state rivers of Kerala originate and flow within and outside the State. Also it gives a picture about the quantity of water utilized by other States even discarding the agreements. Since Mullaperiyar issue is widely discussed these days, these pieces of information might help to know more about the distribution of waters of the inter-state rivers.
It is only natural to think about inter-State rivers flowing through Kerala and the utilization pattern of these waters at this time since the Mullaperiyar dam related issues are very much in the news. Kerala State, though small area-wise, has 44 rivers flowing through it. These are generally categorised as 41 west flowing and 3 east flowing rivers. Since almost all of these rivers are originating from the Western Ghat regions, which is the eastern border of Kerala, the flow of waters is decided by the slope of the mountainous region. Hence some of them, though originate from within Kerala, it takes a direction towards east and enters neighbouring States. Similarly some others originate from the territorial limits of other States finally flow towards Kerala. East flowing rivers
The three rivers Kabani, Bhavani and Pambar are originating and flowing relatively for a long distance within Kerala and entering other States. Out of these Kabani flows from Kerala to Karnataka and the other two towards Tamilnadu. All the three become tributaries to River Kaveri. As per the estimates made by the Central Water Commission an amount of 4190 Mm³ flow of water originates annually from the catchment area, of these rivers, lying within Kerala. The catchment areas, within Kerala, of the rivers Kabani, Bhavani and Pambar, respectively, are 1920 km², 562 km² and 384 km². West flowing rivers
Out of the 41 westward flowing rivers of Kerala eight are having their catchment areas outside the State. These are rivers Uppala (100 + 138 km²), Shiriya ( 225+ 333 km²), Chandragiri (599+635 km²), Valapattanam (655+522 km²), Chaliyar (2406+371 km²), Bharathapuzha (3819+1556 km²), Chalakkudy (1000+370 km²) and Periyar (5222+112 km²) (within the brackets are the respective catchment areas within + outside Kerala. Data published by Govt. of Kerala 1958). Out of the total 18,063 km² of estimated catchment area 4,037 km² (22%) are lying outside the State. Water flow from within the catchment areas of the State is estimated as 29,146 Mm³ and that from areas outside the State is 6476 Mm³ (18.2% of the total catchment area). Out of the total 5334 km² catchment area of Periyar, only 112 km² (2 %) belong to Tamilnadu. Water diversions from Kerala rivers
From Parambikulam-Aliyar Project 701 Mm³ and from Siruvani river 37 Mm³ of water are diverted to Tamilnadu annually. Mullaperiyar reservoir contributes on an average 685 Mm³ of water also. From the Chaliyar river in Kerala 57 Mm³ of water is diverted annually for the Kunda Hydro-electric project of Tamilnadu. Negotiations are going on about diverting 18 Mm³ of water from Neyyar dam to Kanyakumari district of TN. Earlier this diversion was in force, which was stopped temporarily.
From Tamilnadu's side additional projects, than mentioned above, are being implemented or planned using waters diverted from Kerala rivers. Certain projects based on waters of Pandiyar, Punnapuzha and Cholathipuzha (all the three are tributaries of Chaliyar) are in advanced stages in Tamilnadu, for which TN has not sought the permission of Kerala. Similarly in Thirunalveli district of TN , the Kaniyamadagu dam, which is constructed in the catchment area of Periyar, has been existing and is functional. This dam stores Periyar water, without the concurrence of Kerala, and in violation of the Mullaperiyar agreement. The projects for diverting water from Pamba river to Vaipar basin in TN is progressing even though Kerala has lodged strong objections. At the same time, the neighbouring States are preventing any use of waters from the three east flowing rivers by Kerala. Karnataka also have projects using the waters of inter-state river Chandragiri, which are being implemented without the consent of Kerala. Thus the protocol regarding the inter-state rivers are not given any importance by Kerala's neighbouring States.
Job oriented