Drying Bharathapuzha exposes impact of human intervention

The scorching summertime has reduced the Bharathapuzha, erstwhile celebrated arsenic the Nile of Kerala, to agelong stretches of parched riverbed. Across parts of Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram districts, the stream present lies adust for kilometres, adjacent arsenic it continues to service arsenic a captious lifeline for the radical of these regions.

Pockets of water, however, stay trapped successful stretches wherever dams, regulators and cheque dams person been built for drinking h2o proviso and irrigation. Even arsenic demands turn for much specified structures, questions persist implicit their semipermanent sustainability and interaction connected the river’s earthy flow.