THE PERIYAR RIVER

 

The River Thames at Cholsey

We live about a 30 minute walk away from the River Thames in Oxfordshire. It is a beautiful stretch of water as it flows serenely through the meadows, fields and rolling hills making its way to London and the open sea. Despite its splendour it somehow lacks the supreme majesty of the Periyar river. We can spend hours just sitting and watching as the waters flow by.

 

The Periyar River framed by the Western Ghats

 

The mountain ranges where the Periyar originates, the tranquil beautiful lakes reflecting the surrounding nature, along with forests abounding in active wild life are all understandable attractions for visitors. The Thekkady lake with its boating facilities, the Bhoothathan reservoir and beautiful wild life sanctuary adjascent to it attracts nature lovers and tourists from far afield. The famous Malayattoor church, the birth place of Adisankara at Kalady, the Thattekad bird sanctuary, the Sivarathri festival at Aluva and the Queen of the Arabian Sea (as Kochi is known) are all spots of natural beauty along the banks of the Periyar.

 

 

Paniyeli Poru near Malayattoor

 

With its unique geography, monsoon climate, variable land use pattern, Kerala is endowed with a highly diverse and plentiful bounty of aquatic habitats. None more so than the Periyar which is the longest river in Kerala and is often described as its ‘life line’. Its source is at an elevation of about 1830m in the Sivagiri peaks of the Western Ghats on the border between the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 

 

Periyar means ‘big river’ which is entirely appropriate as it has a total length of about 244km, a maximum width of 405m and a catchment area of 5,398 km². The total annual flow is estimated to be 11607m³ and the average rainfall is around 3000mm. In most of the areas of the river, about 60% of the rainfall is experienced during the South West Monsoon and 25% during the North East monsoon period. Along its journey to the Arabian Sea at Cochin the river is fed by many tributaries rising across the Ghats.

From its source the river flows north a short distance to the Periyar Lake. This is an artificial reservoir created by damming the river and stretches across an area of 31km² at an elevation of about 850m. It is ringed by mountain peaks, and is surrounded by the Periyar Tiger Reserve and wildlife sanctuary, famous for its wild elephants and tigers.

 

The Periyar Lake at Thekkady within the Periyar Tiger Reserve

(note the elephant emerging from the trees)

 

From the lake the River continues to flow generally north to where it is impounded by an arch dam at Idukki forming another large reservoir that is a major source of hydroelectric power for Kerala. The river continues northwest, descending out of the high plateau of the mountains and the Cardamom Hills onto the coastal plain of the midlands, characterized by an undulating topography with small hills separated by valleys. From here the river turns west and crosses the narrow belt of the lowlands that runs almost parallel to the shoreline. The lowlands are broad valleys, submerged lands with swamps and marshes and sand dunes, many parts of which are directly connected to the famous backwaters. Finally the river empties into the Arabian Sea about 24 km north of Kochi.

Bhoothathankettu Dam on the Periyar

The forests adjoining the river are comprised of wet-evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry-deciduous and pure reed species. There are also areas of grass land, forest plantation and dense vegetation or ‘jungle’. Although about 35% of the area around the Periyar is forest, some of these areas have already been cleared for various developmental activities. In the highlands the major human activities are connected with plantation, hydroelectric projects, new settlements and building activities. While the plantation in the very high reaches are cardamom, tea and pepper, the foothills are cultivated with rubber, coconut and pepper. The midland belt has mainly fields of rice paddy, coconut and plantains.

 

The River at the high plateau amid tea bushes and running through the midlands

 

The Periyar performs a pivotal role in shaping the economic prospects of Kerala, as it helps in power generation, domestic water supply, irrigation, tourism, industrial production, collection of various inorganic resources and fisheries. Along its course the Periyar provides drinking water for several major towns and generates a significant proportion of its electrical power. It flows through the major region of industrial and commercial activity as 25% of Kerala's industries lie along its banks, mostly to the north of Kochi harbour.

However, as in the case of many other inland bodies of water, the Periyar is gradually undergoing eco-degradation due to various stresses that include indiscriminate deforestation, domestic-agricultural-industrial water pollution, excessive exploitation of resources, large scale sand mining, and various other interferences in the flow of water.