God's own country

KERALA is a land of contradictions. While a mean rainfall of 300 cm lashes the state every year shortage of drinking water remains a perennial cause for heartache. The state government admits that the problem has become a permanent fixture since 1983 in the list of ills ailing the state. The Malayalees, as a people, have unpardonably squandered away nature's bountiful largesse - and the evidence is visible everywhere.

Of the world's 18 biodiversity 'hot spots' so designated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the southern Western Ghats of Kerala (42 per cent of these Ghats lie in the state) is one; the other in India is the Himalayan region. But few in Kerala are even aware of this. Some youth groups are trying to reinvent the community's inner strengths which had remained long neglected. But these are like oases in a barren landscape, and that too, spread few and far between. At the national level the Indian government is yet to acknowledge the value of its last and - as experts now agree - only existing moist evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats.

Housing invaluable biodiversity this region needs immediate intervention of conservation efforts - if not as a national heritage, then at least for the economic advantages that are likely to emerge with the onset of the gene trade. The present approach is destructive to the myriad organisms inhabiting the region that are sensitive to the minutest changes in environment. The locally evolved symbiotic cultures and their reciprocity to nature are being vanquished in the wake of aggressive modernisation undertaken in the last few decades, according to eminent naturalists like John C Jacoba pioneer in the environment movement and a key figure in the state's Silent Valley campaign.

Biodiversity helps in building up resilience in the ecosystem. Kerala's natural resilience is still strong enough to reverse - in certain areas- the present degradation according to a general consensus of experts. Sustained human interventions starting with the first colonial plantations (mostly coconut) begun by the Dutch to the recent spate of deforestation and encroachments have robbed the hills of their ability to heal themselves. On top of that there are also the unauthorised loggers, cultivators of drug-producing plants, poachers and other underworld 'mafia' operatives who thrive in engendering ecological death in close league with those in power.

However not all is lost. There are pockets in the Western Ghats with reasonable forest cover that still retain their vitality. The southern Western Ghats are home to a formidable variety of species including micro-organisms and invertebrates, most of which still remain elusive. It is estimated that over 50 million species may exist globally though only 1.5 million have been documented so far - but only negligible efforts are being made to realise the vast hidden potential of Kerala in adding to this documentation.

Plantations: devouring the land
Traditionally the local culture used to have built-in protective measures like sacred groves, religious taboos to preserve the ecology and its diversity a diverse system of maintaining homestead gardens with a large variety of trees and plant sand practice of mixed cropping that complemented the essentially nature-worshipping' culture. Even as recently as two decades ago the homestead gardens boasted an immense variety - including coconut, jackfruit, mango arecanut, pepper, betel and banana - that has been sacrificed to fragmentation of land and to profitable plantations including recently acres of fashionable garden Plants.

Monoculture plantations have bulldozed development. Though forests are no longer being felled to accomodate plantations, monoculture continues in existing clearings. The spread of domestic crops like rubber has been phenomenal in the last two decades, increasing at a rate of 12,000 hectare (ha) annually throughout Kerala.

Large tracts of the Western Ghats in the state are under cash crops - tea, coffee or forest land cardamom - in privately-owned plantations marked by aggressive farming methods that have over time, led to damaged topsoil following the dumping of pesticides insecticides, weedicides and a host of other 'poisons. An independent study has revealed that in the plantation district of Idukki (4,998 sq km) the quantity of pesticides used is 39kg/haof insecticides11.5kg/haoffungicides14.7kg/ha and of weedicides 9.83kg/ha. As much as 30 to 40 per cent of the district - also one of the most prone to landslides - comprises large plantations. Land erosion is severe and land productivity is failing. As a spokesperson of the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) admitted tea cultivation will not be economical after 10 years.

Kerala's much-touted land legislations, while succeeding in fragmenting the non-plantation lands have left the large plantations untouched. The state's extremely low per capita land availability (0. 13 ha) and its high density of population (749 per sq km) demands immediate and positive government action with regard to the plantations. This is of paramount importance for the water balance of the plains as well. Where the pressure of population is slowly but steadily eating into the forests as encroachments redistributing the plantation lands and regulating their use could alleviate the problem. Some plantation fragments may also be allowed for 'reclamation' by natural growth so that the hills maybe nursed back to life.

Water: a similar fate
Kerala's coastlines are under seige as well. The wetlands along the coast were, and still are home to a variety of amphibians and organisms. The indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in the region together with aggressive exploitation of the fauna - such as frogs for export of frog legs a decade back -has resulted in reduced fertility and the increased incidence of harmful pests. This has adversely affected the surrounding land so that cultivation has been virtually given up to' land development'. Kerala's paddy cropping fell from nine lakh ha in 1970 to five lakh ha in. 1995. The compounded effects in the food base and water percolation system are yet to be ascertained.

The inland water bodies, rivers and the coastal waters have also suffered similar species depletion. In the Akkulam- Veli lake the number of fish species have fallen from over 300 half a century back to just 25 today, largely because of reduced primary productivity in the bottom sediments of the lake. Pollution, sand mining and damming along river banks have destroyed freshwater species- and depleted the diet of the poor in the region. International concern has been focussed on the marine ecosystem of Kerala - identified as a case of what is being called the 'desertification of the seas'.

Drinking water: alarming state
Individual wells used to be a common feature in traditional Kerala households; most homes had them. Today city-dwellers are increasingly becoming dependent on government water supply schemes. Many old wells are being abandoned or filled; some have found a novel new use - as septic tanks for lavatories. (The Malayalee people have come a long way from the days they worshipped wells). This and other highly unhealthy practices can lead to the pollution of underground channels and contamination of nearby water bodies.

The annual fall - during the summer months - in the state's water table has encouraged deep boring. In many such cases there has been seepage of saline water. The government of Kerala plans legislation to restrict the digging of wells and bore wells at certain locations.

The mining of sands from river beds is also believed to have adversely affected the water table. This has been reported from the banks of the Pampa, Bharathapuzha and other rivers where sand mining is rampant; at some locations as many as 800 truckloads of sand are removed daily. The removal of sand affects the aquatic environment and destroys local fish-breeding grounds. The consequences have not prompted the government to take any preventive action.

In places the mining has been so extensive as to lower the river beds considerably below the embankments. Mining resulted in closing of the Enathu bridge at Adoor on the river Kallada to traffic, after its foundations were found to have been weakened by neighbouring sand mining activities. Complaints by the local public and press reports about Enathu had no impact on political leaders and decision-makers in the state.

As Kerala is situated on a slope from the Western Ghats to the sea - with the Anamudi the highest peak in the Western Ghatsat a height of 2,694 in - its rivers are mainly flowing westward many at a very high velocity more so after the monsoons. Denuded of vegetation cover in the upper reaches and in the plains the rate of erosion has gone up and sand mining has aggravated the draining of the waters, depleting percolation. This has further affected the wells.

Erosion has led to the rivers carrying higher volumes of silt and to the fast filling up of lakes and reservoirs. Increased siltation of estuaries has resulted in the sea washing further inland. In many rivers as with the Chaliyar Ithikkara and Periyar sea waters intrude more and more inland - for instance 25 km into the Chaliyar estuary and 35 kin into the Kallada.

The state electricity board (SEB) has yet to release data regarding siltation in the hydel reservoirs. As for the lakes, it is difficult to differentiate between this and the large scale reclamation on the banks. Siltation has left only one pocket in the Akkularn lake which drains Thiruvananthapurarn city at reasonable depth. With the reduced water-holding capacity of the lake there have been floods in the city.

Energy and electricity
The commissioning of the Idukki hydel station (installed capacity of 780 megawatt) in the 1980s created an enormous euphoria that Kerala was to have excess power. While the state did sell power to its neighbours for a while the power shortages returned. The state finally found a scapegoat in those who had called a halt to the proposed Silent Valley and later Pooyanikutti hydel projects.

The SEB refuses to disclose information on the efficiency of performance of the state's hydel projects including the sedimentation in the reservoirs. It is known that in reservoirs of the irrigation department such as the Pecchi (built in 1957) the effective storage capacity is getting reduced by around 0.83 per cent annually; in the Chulliar, affected by landslides, siltation is higher. The Idukki area is far more vulnerable with steep hillsides and encroachments that have denuded the hills leading to frequent landslides.

With the destruction of forests the natural springs have been either extinguished or become increasingly seasonal. If the demand for more hydel schemes is met the net result would be a series of dams and little water -either for power generation or for drinking. The SEB has finally after initially pooh-poohing the idea of tapping non -conventional energy sources agreed to harness wind wave and micro-hydel energy. Piping Bombay High gas to the state is another feasible alternative. But this may involve devastating the forests in the Western Ghats earmarked by the IUCN as a world natural heritage.

The seas off Kerala
Over-exploitation of marine resources pollution and erosion are the major problems facing coastal Kerala. It is this roughly 360 sq km-continental shelf that the fisherfolk of Kerala (making up 3.36 per cent of the state's population) depend on the density of population here which goes up to 1500peopleper sq km in some areas, makes the problem of sea erosion a natural calamity. Seasonally, the sea may carry the beaches from one place to another.

The state government has initiated a major programme of building barriers against the sea which often prove in effective. The earliest steps to build such sea walls had been taken in the pre- independence days. Kerala today has around 350 kms of sea walls. Scientists at the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) Thiruvananthapuram argue that erosion data of ten ignores accretion data and the cumulative balance. A 1972 report which said that 320 km of the coast is prone to erosion was endorsed, but the CESS team found 165 km of accretional sites as well. Normally there is a zero loss of beach from accretion.

There is also additional problem of largescale mining of coastal sands; at certain places like Cheriyazheekal near Kollam the width of the land between the sea and the backwaters has' been reduced to a few feet. Mining has been ongoing since the 1940s; now it is conducted by the Indian Rare Earths of the Union government's department of atomic energy. Most of the sands which contain monazite, illmenite and thorium among other metals, are shipped raw to external agencies.

Extensive damage to the marine ecosystem including the coral reefs mangroves and mud banks has contributed to declining coastal productivity. Pollution is another major player in this. However government statistics show that the export of marine products - in terms of both value and quantity - has increased. But the deeper reality of the problem according to experts is different. The increases are a result of aggressive exploitation through mechanised devices that have rendered the coastal waters depleted of stock over the years and worse, severely altered the symbiotic relationships of the ecosystem.

Mechanised fishing in Kerala began in 1953 with an Indo-Norwegian project which essentially aimed at equipping fisherfolk with advanced fishing systems. But as the capital-intensive mechanised boats were soon at the control of non-fisherfolk like moneylenders the profit motive acquired absolute preeminence. The naturalised controls that traditional fisherfolk followed were no longer adhered to.

The accumulated results of the indiscriminate trawling of the 1960s and '70s including the damage to the ecosystem are not fully known. But it is a widely accepted fact that the diversity in fish populations was reduced that 150 of the once common species were no more to be seen and that the catches were reduced by 40 to 60 per cent of the pre- 1970 levels.

Simultaneously the pattern of domestic consumption has undergone a change as well. Once the poor man's proteinsource the per capita availability of fish for local consumption dropped from 19 kg in 1971 to nine kg in 1981. Mechanised trawlering and the export thrust have effected the change.

Interventionist policies
In Kerala as in all of India ad hoc interventions go by the name of' development'. The genuine needs of the people or their environment are not part of any wider planning.

As the earth scientist Sreekumar Chattopadhyaya says ecosystem-specific designs whether in agriculture forestry or lifestyle shave to be accepted. Plans airlifted from elsewhere may do more harm than good as monoculture plantations or mechanised fisheries have done in Kerala though there maybe immediate gains. And as politician-turned-environmentalist K V Surendranath says politicians will have to out grows sort-term calculations in favour of the long-term common good. Often schemes started by one government are given up by the next the bane of Kerala's oft-changing political The fate of the village-level resource mapping exercise started by the Left Front government through CESS is one such casualty.

On the administrative side Kerala's department of science technology and environment (STED) has not even been consulted for important policy decisions on environment. One recent example is that of the Rudravanarn project in Periyar tiger reserve conceived by the state's chief secretary meant for pilgrims to Sabarimalaa hill shrine deep inside the rainforests. About to be implemented only the timely intervention of alert activist groups stalled it. But the whole process bypassed STED though an 'appraisal' of the plan was done.

Tourism: bating its fangs
With large scale and growing unemployment most local residents are happy to agree that tourism is the 'sunrise' industry of Kerala - the panacea for its employment- related ills. Industrial investment is low because of the strong trade union movement in the state; the economy is stagnant; and it is mainly remittances from migrants especially those in West Asia that keep many houses afloat. The authorities have therefore chosen to lure income with the plentiful natural attractions of the region.

But a bare-all tourism policy may not help. The famed backwaters of Kerala are, literally rotting. And it is in these very waters that the tourism officials have introduced fancy yachts, hoping perhaps that some at least will dare the trap. The once misty hills with their rainforests are balding frequent landslides exposing the rock and newly unprotected soils. The dying rivers, ponds and lakes go unnoticed in the mad rush to progress.

Tourism does sometimes help though as for instance in the case of the Akkulam-Veli lake on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. When tourist boats were getting stuck in the sewage of the lake and not many were willing to avail of the facility, the tourism department launched a study of the condition of the lake. The study generated reports exposing the gruesome reality within: fish epidemics, depleted life stocks, poisons and black death.

The situation according to K N Nair CESS director and eminent scientist is like an 'inverted pyramid' Presumed progress at the cost of the survival systems cannot be stable, he says. Such development had led to whata Malayalee writer recently described as "a generation on crutches". Given the treasures of the Malayalee inheritance that is indeed sad. What is sadder is that people refuse to notice it even when nature's warning signals come in red: the perishing hills the muddy rivers' and gray waters.

P R J Pradeep is a freelance journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram

THE oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) a brilliantly coloured fish dear to the palate of Keralites and once the poor man's cheap source of protein has become scarce. One sardine today costs Rs 3.00; two decades ago a single rupee bought 100 sardines. Over-exploitation and environmental pollution have reduced the total fish catch from 2.8 lakh mt (metric tonnes) in 1989 to 0.95 lakh mt in 1993. Along the Kerala coast the landings of oil sardine was 2.5 lakh mt in 1968. Now it is about 0.5-lakh tonnes (t).

The oil sardine is distributed throughout the Arabian Sea from the Gulf of Aden to the West Bengal coast. But 75 percent of all oil sardine landings are from the Indian coast. In 1964 the oil sardine accounted for 32 per cent of total marine fish landings; but in 1993 this came down to 4.2 per cent.

During the early part of this century the demand for fish oil in Europe and elsewhere had given an impetus to the sardine oil industry and its trade. Even in those days Francis Daythe famous ichthyologist, warned that "it must be left to future years to demonstrate whether the present increase in fish oil trade due to high prices is a healthy or unhealthy stimulus; if the latter, the fisheries are being overworked and the future loss will be great".

In spite of the warning the early '20s saw a rapid boom in the oil sardine trade and industry. But this was followed by the collapse of fisheries in the late '30s and early '40s resulting in the closure of sardine oil factories never to be revived again.

Conservation measures were introduced in 1943 and included legislations banning capture of juveniles and spawners. The highly destructive boat seines (a type of net) and the gillnet were also banned. But the legislation lapsed in 1946 due to difficulties in implementation. Fishery research is now undertaken by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (Kochi).

Catch analyses of oil sardines clearly indicate that one of the main reasons for the steep fall in oil sardine catches is over-exploitation. In Kerala itself, there are about 1,000 trawlers 500 outboard engine-fitted plank-built boats 300 mechanised catamarans about 5,000 plank-built non-mechanised boats 10,000 dugout canoes and 12,000 catamarans. Besides there are 1,500 trawl nets 24,000 gillnets and driftnets 1,000 boat seines, hundreds of ring nets and disco nets. Nets like the nylon ring nets and disco nets are capable of 'efficiently' depleting entire shoals of fish within a short time. Such nets are especially deadly in shallow water sand the fad that the oil sardine shoals are not very large aggravates that danger to them. These nationalised banks also contribute to the' depletion of the fish stock by advancing enormous amounts as soft loans to such lethal' fishing units.

The fisherfolk blame the outboard engines and the noise they produce which is magnified underwater for driving away oil sardine shoals. The fisherfolk fear that the oil sardines have migrated to the east coast. But this is untenable as collections made more or less at the same time of oil sardines of all size groups have shown themselves to be similar along both the eastern and western coasts. Further oil sardines do not migrate over such long distances. This serves to emphasise that failure to conserve our fish resources and harvest the fishes in a sustainable manner will result in irreversible degradation. And the responsibility for this will be shared by all scientists, research institutes, government politicians and the fisherfolk alike.

R S Lalmohan is a Calicut-based marine scientist

LUSH green backwaters dotting a verdant undulating landscape along a north-south 560 km-coastal strip sporting a chain of lagoons - that is nature's gift to Kerala. These backwaters (dammed or still water beside streams and fed by the back flow) many of which are connected to the sea have played a significant role through the ages in the socioeconomic and cultural history of the state. But today the extensive reclamation of land from the backwaters both authorised and unauthorised continuing unabated over several years threatens to tear apart the pristine ecology of the region.

Of the total 3,600 sq km of water bodies in the state, the sprawling and interconnected estuary system comprises some 67 per cent. Referring to the widespread devastation The Environmental Geomorphic Atlas of Kerala Coastal Zone published in March 1987points out that about 15 per cent of the state's backwaters has been depleted in a short span of 15years. According to the Shrinking Backwaters of Keralaa study conducted by the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)while Kerala's backwaters covered36500hectares (ha) in the mid-19th century only 12700ha(34.8 per cent) remain today.

Reclaiming disaster
The state's backwaters have a myriad variety of roles to play: controlling floods sheltering and breeding marine life filtering bio-matter and providing a haven to migratory species. A Mohandas director School of Environmental Studies Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUST) Says: "These little and large lagoons and estuaries have to be considered as items in the natural resources inventory and as the national heritage of the state as these have very important roles to contribute in the development of intra-coastal water transport inland fisheries and wetland ecology." But the state government is still far from paying any serious attention to the condition of the backwaters.

Increasing populations vie for more space with every passing year making demands on the peripheral stretches of the backwaters. But reclamation is more a business generating enormous profits, than need. For instance, unauthorised encroachments have gobbled up and depleted the backwaters surrounding picturesque islands like those of Vypeen andVallarpadam near Kochi. The biggest reclamation - of 365 ha- of backwater land however has been the one under taken in the early 1920s for setting up Kochi port. The Vembanad lake, Kerala's largest backwater, lost 51 sq kin in the process' shrinking from 230 sq kin in 1968 to 179 sq kin in 1983. The wonderful Siberian teals had found sanctuary in this magnificent lake till recently. Their visits have become rarer following the vast changes in the ecology of the lake.

Lately the announcement of a host of 'modernisation' schemes for Kochi which involve reclamation on a massive scale have forced fisherfolk and environmentalists to protest the degradation of the estuarine system. The Rs 325 crore-scheme to connect - by bridging - the islands on the backwaters off Kochi to the mainland envisages raising 362 ha from the bottom through a three-phase project expected to be completed in the year 2003. The sale of this reclaimed land is ostensibly to pay for the construction of the bridges.

A water sports complex in Kochi (expected to cost Rs 5crore) proposed by the Greater Kochi Development Authority also has a reclamation component: the two km-canal from Chilavannur to Kundannur is to be made narrower- from 360 metres (m) to 60 m - for the purpose. Yet as a senior NIO scientist says: "Any disturbance to the configuration of backwaters will positively destroy the quality and quantum of marine resources." Exploitation endangers
Environmental deterioration is taking place at a rapid rate in the backwaters of Kerala. The estuarine system is subjected to irrational economic exploitation and consequent ecological degradation. It is high time appropriate measures were evolved to conserve this vital ecosystem, says P Kumaran senior scientist at the National Environmental Research Institute Kochi. Lack of alternative fuelwood has forced the clearing away of the backwaters' mangrove shrubs almost to extinction. K Balakrishnan and C B Lalithambika Devi echo Kumaran's sentiments in their study, Development and Ecodisaster: A Lesson from the Cochin Backwater System: "The establishment of a modern port at Cochin has transformed the region into the industrial capital of the state. Simultaneous with economic progress the environmental conditions have become deranged due to large scale shipping operations."

Another study by scientists M K Mukundan and K Ravindran of the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology in Kochi has pointed out that the backwater adjacent to Kochi port has been contaminated with heavy doses of petroleum hydrocarbons. Apart from the large volume of petroleum products the port also handles substances such as phosphoric acid, rock phosphates, ammonia and sulphur. Careless handling and spillage of these substances that lead to environmental damages are common phenomena.

Myriad problems
Research by the CUST School of Marine Sciences has found a direct link between depletion of backwaters and the decline in estuarine fishery resources arising from alterations to the ecology. Where estuarine-dependent panaeid shrimps made up the bulk of Kerala's shrimp catches earlier, marine species have almost totally replaced these in the last two decades.

The commissioning of the Thanneermukkom saltwater barrier has brought to an end the migration of all species which depend on both fresh and saline water for the completion of their lifecycles. The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii earlier found in the middle and lower halves of Vembanad lake used to be one of the most sought after products. The characteristic annual breeding migration of this species from freshwater to the highly saline lower reaches of the estuary was disrupted by the barrage.

Recently the proliferation of a 'tiny ant-like creature' in the Kochi backwaters caused alarm because of its ability to rapidly cat away at fish catches. The creature identified as an isopod Cerlolana fluvitatlis now poses a serious threat to the region's aquatic resources. A study by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Kochi found that the proliferation of this isopod is linked with changes in the ecosystem.

' According to the NIO study the decreasing' volume of exchange with the sea has reduced the diluting capacity of the backwaters. Moreover the inflow of industrial effluents in to the backwaters has increased substantially as has the discharge of domestic effluents. Further silt deposits have reduced the mean depth of the estuary system thus compounding the problem of shrinking acreage and decreasing the water-carrying capacity. The backwaters are also threatened by the prolific growth of the weed Salvinia auriculata, or the 'African payal'. A biological pollutant the plant has caused reduced primary productivity and dissolved oxygen concentration.

The Ashtamudi estuary in Kollam district fed by the Kallada river has its own share of the problem. Acid-rich wastes discharged by local industries are razing it report scientists from the Centre for Earth Science Studies Thiruvananthapuram. Consequently fisherfolk who dive for clams become easy prey to respiratory and skin disorders.

The exsiccation of the backwaters is also resulting in the encroachment of saline water into the rivers. During high tide the saline water of the backwaters enters through the bar mouth into the rivers. In 1982 the Periyar river was invaded by saltwater to a stretch of 28 km; this resulted in the closure of several industrial units on the river's banks. The over-exploitation and dwindling of resources have naturally caused considerable concern among environmentalists especially in the context of progressive contraction of the estuarine system.

M Ajith Kumar is a freelance journalist based in Kochi

IT TOOK a recent outbreak of an epidemic of Japanese encephalitis with 27 resultant fatalities to focus attention on the widespread environmental degradation in Kuttanad. The Kuttanad basin; in central Kerala extends over 1600 sq km. The region 'is nestled between the foothills of the Western Ghats in the east and the comparatively elevated plains of coastal Alappuzha in the west. Most aggravating among the region's problems is the severe degradation of the aquatic environment mainly caused by human intervention leading to depletion of fisheries resources and health hazards posed to the population.

A crisis of water
Kuttanad's monsoons bring with them the perennial problem of floods, engendered by the region's four major rivers. These rivers - the Pampa, the Achenkoil, the Manimala and the Meenachil - drain into the Kuttanad trough, taking a weblike course from Veeyapuram, about 35 km to the south of Alappuzha town. Heading north through the length of Kuttanad, they empty into the Arabian Sea through the Vembanad lake.

The first of the development projects to be implemented in Kuttanad aimed at diverting the flood waters into the sea before they entered the region. The project based on suggestions of the Vaidyanathan commission set up in 1954 involved the construction of a channel from Veeyapuram the confluence of the rivers Achenkoil and Pampa (at the southern end of Kuttanad) to Thottappally, as well as that of a spillway. However the channel and the spillway did not have the desired effect.

Development seems to have upset the applecart here. The numerous roads which have come up in the area act as dams preventing easy drainage of flood waters. Extensive land reclamation in the area has also brought about restricted water-logging in pockets.

Moreover, according to the Kerala pollution control board (KPCB) which was associated in a detailed study of the region's various problems under a three-year Indo-Dutch programme the Kuttanad water balance study project (KWBSP) - a) qut 25,000 tonnes (t) of fertilisers and 500 t of highly toxic pesticides are used in the region's 55,000 ha of paddy fields annually. A considerable portion of this enters the water bodies when the water drains from the fields.

Initiated following the visit of an agricultural identification mission from the Netherlands in 198 1the KWBSP was aimed at studying ways to solve Kuttanad's various problems and evaluate possible solutions to flooding, environmental deterioration and its adverse effects on public health and the problem of poor sanitation. The recommendations of the project included the construction of check dams in the upper reaches of the four rivers as measures to control the floods. The mission also put forward definite proposals for preservation of the region's ecology and development of agriculture and fisheries besides drawing up schemes for housing sanitation and drinking water supply.

According to the study referred to above the use of fertilisers and pesticides was 50 to 75 per cent more in Kuttanad than in other regions. Studies by the KPCB have revealed the presence of DDT and its derivatives, DDE and DDD in water and soil sediments. Organic tissue samples of fish, shrimp and clams, collected from Vembanad lake and examined in the Netherlands, show that levels of pesticides present were as much as 10 times the admissible toxic levels for the respective species. Some of these chemicals are well-known carcinogens.

Alarmingly the project pointed out that more than 40 per cent of the population of the area or nearly five lakh people depend on polluted canals, rivers and lakes for their drinking water. However while the study report was submitted way back in 1989 the state government is yet to sit up and take note of it. There is widespread resentment of this lackadaisical attitude demonstrated by the government. According to experts involved in the study the KWBSP has provided the much-needed database to work outlasting solutions to the complex problems of the region.

Outbreak: barrier trouble
This governmental apathy besides the ham-handed development policies intended for the region have been primarily responsible for the outbreak of Japanese encephalitis. The immediate cause - positively identified by researchers led by Jose Thomas, assistant director state health directorate - was the proliferation of mosquitoes mainly the Culex vishnui variety. These were found in large numbers in the affected areas. The basic reason for this pesky proliferation is the uncontrolled growth of water weeds which has a direct bearing on the drastic changes occurring in the region's aquatic environment since the commissioning of the Thannermukkorn saltwater barrier in 1976.

The barrier though it initially helped farmers by preventing seasonal intrusion of saltwater into the backwaters has had a disastrous long-term impact on the ecologyof the region. It has transformed the Vembanad lake into two distinct zones - the upstream area in Kuttanadnow a polluted freshwater body and the downstream section near Kochi which has brackish water. Before the barrier came into being there was no water stagnation in Kuttanad. Even during summer months when there was no flow into Kuttanad from the rivers emptying into the basin the region enjoyed the cleansing impact of the ebb and flow of the sea's tidal action. The salinity in the water also helped check the proliferation of water weeds. Today the stagnant cesspools of the region infested with thick weed growth provide the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The recent outbreak is reminiscent of various previous ones highlighting the immediate need for ameliorative measures. In 1991a devastating fish disease - ulcerative syndrome - had wiped out a large number of fish in Kuttanad. A series of researches conducted in its wake have pointed out that pesticide pollution was the predisposing factor for the disease. The next year saw an almost similar disease affecting water snakes and tortoises. Following that ducks too died in large numbers because of some mysterious disease. Most of the diseases were in one way or another related to environment and its degradation.