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Pampa pollution threat aggravates
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- The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has cautioned against the growing pollution status of Pampa river along the bathing ghats in the foothills of Sabarimala ever since the beginning of the annual pilgrim’s season in mid-November.
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- Likely causes of River Pollution:
(1) Lean river flow, coupled with the flow of sewage from the river banks.
(2) Bath at ghats: Large number of people taking bath at the ghats too contributed to the steadily degrading quality of water.
(3) Highly Degraded water quality of the Njunangar stream leading to the Pampa from Sabarimala Sannidhanam affected the quality of the Pampa at Arattukadavu and its downstream reaches.
(4) PCB water quality analysis: found the faecal coliform (FC) count in the Arattukadavu stretch at 5,100 colony forming unit (CFU) in every 100 ml of water against its maximum permissible limit of 500 CFU/100 ml. The CFU count was only 160 in Arattukadavu on Nov 18.
(5) Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the river water was found 4.7 mg per litre against the maximum permissible limit of 3 mg.
(6) Solution: ensuring a minimum flow of 5 cumecs per second through periodic release of water from the Kullar dam of the Kerala State Electricity Board was the only solution to address the present pollution problem in Pampa.
- About Pampa/Pamba River:
(1) 3rd longest river in the South Indian state of Kerala after Periyar and Bharathappuzha & the longest river in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.
(2) Sabarimala temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa is located on the banks of the river Pamba.
(3) Mouth: Vembanad Lake
(4) Tributaries: Azhuthayar, Kakkiyar, Kakkattar, Kallar, Madatharuvi, Thanungattilthodu, Kozhithodu, Varattar, Kuttemperoor.
Sources
The Hindu