Kerala is known to the world as a gift of the great Western ghats.
41 rivers springs out of it, flow westwards and discharge in to the Arabian sea and three rivers drops to the east merging with the Kaveri River Basin on its onward journey to merge with the bay of Bengal.
Out of the 41, twenty one rivers are assessed to be polluted. Out of this 21, The maximum polluted is the Karamana River which springs from the Agasthya mountains and discharges into the Arabian sea near Kovalam.
Rivers get polluted by human generated atrocities viz sewer discharge , Industrial waste deposits, plastics dumping, waste dumping, surface runoffs, garbage throw-outs and drainage deposits etc.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has advised the Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Corporation (KIIC) to align with 30 Engineering colleges in Kerala and the pollution control board (PCB) to make a field survey to establish the magnitude and the corresponding solutions to negotiate the same. This exercise has resulted in the identification of the above 21 Rivers which needs immediate attention.
Apart from Karamana River others like Periyar, Pamba, Meenachill and Bharathappuzha etc also are inclusive. An analytical chemistry method of measuring the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) which the aerobic bacteria requires to break down the organic waste content is computed into a number and if the number exceeds 3, a river falls into a polluted category. The dissolved oxygen (DO) required for organisms living in an aquatic Ecosystem is much lower than the number 3 and hence such aquatic life systems ceases to exist.
There are a number of methods available to decontaminate such scenarios and the same are being employed to circumvent the situation.
The end results of the survey are quite alarming. It is definitely an indicator of the sheer callousness of the psyche of people living in Kerala.
A change of management in our thought process is the need of the hour.
Let us think about it louder.