Mangaluru: Over 1600 acres of prime water bodies all alongside the National Highways 75 and 66 in their approach to Mangaluru city have been reclaimed for construction purposes as a result many of them are on the verge of death. This unregulated filling up of wetlands have also blocked the underground water veins preventing movement of water from excess area to deficit areas resulting in underground water making the disappearing act in the last few years.
The wetlands have been described the funnels on the surface of the earth connecting the underground water sources, and they suck water in the rainy season and feed the water veins, while in the summertime they maintain the water level on the surface. These wonderful and very useful wetlands are now being choked with tonnes of soil by real estate lobby in a mindless reclamation of land in Mangaluru.
In Coastal areas wetlands are manifested as estuaries, marshes, bogs, ponds and paddy fields which are abundant in and around coastal cities like Mangaluru, Udupi, Kundapur, Bhatkal, Honnavar and Karwar. This region has been rated at class ‘A’ waterbodies in the international charter of wetlands, but the real estate lobby here does not care and neither the State Government, say the greens.
These water bodies have been neglected and are fast disappearing. Most of them have given way to construction of urban dwellings, agricultural operations and natural siltation. The siltation is alarming and has been attributed to deforestation around wetlands. In Dakshina Kannada District alone, over 540 ponds and tanks are on the brink of being destroyed by “willful closures” and mindless urbanisation. India has no law to bring wetlands under declaration of land norms, which is why the real estate sharks are having a free run in reclaiming land from the wetlands.
*According to the sources in Minor Irrigation Department, the coastal districts of Karnataka has more than 18 world class wetlands right from the North of Chandragiri River to Karwar while Mangaluru has two of the most sensitive wetlands which are ranked 29th among the world’s endangered wetlands. They are: Gangolli Estuary in Kundapur Taluk (undivided Dakshina Kannada) which is being degraded by saline water shrimp-farming; and the Anekere Tank in Karkala, now in Udupi District, which has become a garbage dump, heavily silted and choked with weeds.
*Ironically, India is a signatory to the International Treaty on Conservation of Wetlands signed at Ramsar in Iran in 1971. The treaty came into force in 1975 and was meant to guard against the irrational destruction of wetlands, The role of wetlands – especially peat bogs which make up almost half the world’s wetlands – in regulating climate and reducing the greenhouse effect through their capacity to retain carbon dioxide has been scientifically established.
Former Director of the Wetland International Asia late S. A. Hussian had observed in one of his papers presented in the international conference on wetlands held in Brazil apart from acting as a waterfowl habitat the wetlands help prevent droughts and floods and recharge groundwater during summer. They help arrest floods and are considered to be “terrestrial funnels” which absorb excessive water from the surface and discharge it when needed. Ecologically the wetlands are called “water savings bank”.
Various studies carried out by the Ramsar Convention Bureau observes “Wetlands not only store water but also improve water quality. This was established by studies in the Chowilla flood plains in Australia as observed by Bill Phillips in the volume published by the Ramsar Convention Bureau, “Towards the Wise Use of Wetlands”. He points out that wetlands even purify sewage. Other functions of wetlands include erosion control, sediment retention, biomass export, windbreak, nutrient retention and water transport from excess to deficient areas through water veins.
The benefits of these evergreen water resources to mankind are multifold. They are known to be natural protectors of forests, wildlife and agricultural resources. Wetlands also contribute to fisheries, shoreline stabilisation, water supply and help conserve biological diversity.
Likewise, wetlands in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal (Sunderbans) Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh are also being degraded and destroyed. Of the 88 wetlands of international importance in the country, 45 per cent are under “moderate to high” threat. Estuaries on the West Coast are also categorised as highly endangered international wetlands says the study.
Dr. N. A. Madhyastha, Ornithologist and a noted Zoologist, giving an Ornithologist’s view says “wetlands in the State have played host to several species of migratory birds such as golden plovers, curlews, avocets, cranes, pintails, bar-headed geese, terns, ducks and yellow wagtails for centuries. But with the degeneration of wetlands, these birds are now finding new routes as the profile of waterfowl habitats has been changing constantly.”
Quoting from “The Global Biodiversity – Status of Earth’s Living Resources” compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Dr. Madhyastha says, “India has over 93 wetland sites spread over 54,700 sq km and Asia has over 947 sites spread over 734,000 sq km. The benefits of wetlands have been taken for granted and, as a result, maintenance of natural wetlands has received low priority.”
The estuary and the banks of the Gurupur river was being encroached by builders and real estate operators. Violations have been noted at Chitrapura, all along the on the left side of NH 66 between Kulur and Kottara and at Baikampady and in Jeppinamogaru. Various parts of the river was being filled up with earth, waste material and other solid waste with an intention of reclaiming land from the river. This was against the CRZ I (ecologically sensitive areas) which goes to recognise the ecological importance of 100 metrea of coastal river banks and cannot be used for any other purposes, the Mangaluru Parisaraskta Okkuta observes. The Okkuta had estimated it to be over 600 acres of wetlands and water bodies that have been destroyed and reclaimed by the real estate and builder lobbies since 2003.
Some waterbody facts:
*24,24,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country, out of which 97.1% (23,55,055) are in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas.
*59.5% (14,42,993) of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7%, i.e 3,81,805), reservoirs (12.1%, i.e 2,92,280),!water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3%, i.e 2,26,217), lakes (0.9%, i.e 22,361) and others (2.5%, i.e 58,884).
*West Bengal has highest number of ponds and reservoirs, whereas Andhra Pradesh has highest number of tanks, Tamil Nadu has highest number of lakes and Maharashtra is the leading state for water conservation scheme.
*A major proportion of water bodies i.e., 83.7% (20,30,040) are in use whereas remaining 16.3% (3,94,500) are not in use on account of drying up, construction, siltation, destroyed beyond repair, salinity and other reasons.
*Most of the water bodies are used in pisciculture, followed by irrigation, ground water recharge and domestic/drinking purpose.
*9.6% (2,32,637) water bodies are located in tribal areas, 8.8% (2,13,454) in flood prone areas, 7.2% (1,74,592) in the area under “Drought Prone Areas Programme”, 2% (49,470) water bodies are in the naxal affected areas, 0.7% (16,018) under Desert Development Programme (DDP) whereas remaining 71.7% (17,38,369) water bodies are located in other areas.
*55.2% (13,38,735) of water bodies are owned by private entities whereas 44.8% (10,85,805) of water bodies are in the domain of public ownership