A unique experiment to recharge the Kabani river and rescue drought-hit villages on its banks on the Kerala-Karnataka border by using water from the Karapuzha reservoir has turned out to be a huge success.
When the residents of Mullankolly and Pulpally grama panchayats on the Kerala-Karnataka border faced acute drinking water shortage after the Kabani dried out, the civic bodies with the support of the public and various organisations constructed a temporary check dam across the river. The sharp drop in inflow of water had adversely affected the operation of pumping stations in many local bodies.
Meanwhile, the District Disaster Management Authority directed the Water Resources department to release water from the Karapuzha reservoir to tackle the issue in the region on an experimental basis.
However providing solace to thousands of families in the 60 wards of Pulpally, Poothadi and Mullankolly panchayats, the temporary check dam at Marakkadau got filled on Saturday morning. The authorities released five to seven cubic metres of water per second from the Karapuzha reservoir through the Karapuzha river, a major tributary of the Kabani from Wednesday.
It took 66 hours for water from the Karapuzha reservoir to reach the temporary check dam across the Kabani after covering nearly 60 km by filling five major check dams and four pumping stations of the Kerala Water Authority on the banks of the river.
However, sources in the Water Resources department said they could release water from the reservoir only in critical situations and could not make a permanent arrangement since the storage capacity of the reservoir was very low. Moreover, it caters to the drinking water projects of seven civic bodies in the district, including Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta. It also supplies water to irrigate 636 hectares. It was proposed to be extended to 2,538 hectares by the end of 2025. Hence, the authorities should try to construct small reservoirs across the river to meet drought-like situations in the future, the sources said.
