EVS PROJECT

RIVER SAND MINING IN THE

NEYYAR RIVER BASIN

SUBMITTED BY A.J MOSES - B090482ME CHAITHANYA RAMKUMAR V - B090476ME ARUN VIJAYAN - B090514ME ANSU U - B090346ME

AKHIL P.A - B090413ME

INTRODUCTION

Rivers are India‟s lifeline and enjoy a special place in prayers and its traditional practices. Many forms of aquatic flora and fauna are sustained by rivers. However, its sheer utility is leading to its own downfall. Rivers are increasingly being linked to several social, environmental, and political issues. It is observed that the removal of sand from the riverbeds has exceeded the natural replenishment, making it unsustainable. Demand for sand is very high in some states like Kerala due to increasing construction demands. Mining has eroded riverbanks, lowered river channels and also weakened engineering structures like bridges. The rivers of Kerala have considerably influenced its historical and cultural development of the people of Kerala. They influence in one way or other the history and cultural life of the people of Kerala. Several places of historical and cultural importance are located on the banks of the rivers.

In nature, sand occurs as river channel and floodplain deposits, fluvio-glacial deposits, aeolian (wind) deposits, lake deposits and nearshore-marine deposits. Among these sources, sand from rivers is largely being used over the years for meeting its demand in construction industry. As a result of overexploitation, river sand in Kerala is in short supply and the construction industry finds difficulty in achieving targets. This warrants the imminent need

for alternatives to river sand to bridge the gap between demand and supply. It is imminent that measures are to be taken to minimize the use of sand by adopting technologies with low sand/no sand content in construction sector.

IMPORTANCE OF RIVER SOURCES

In earlier days, mining of sand from rivers was well within the natural replenishments. However, the increase in the mining of river sand irrecoverably damaged the river banks, the ecology and hydrologic setting of the river basin. The problems related to sand mining are acute in Kerala as the rivers in the State are short with limited sand resource. River has an important role in the life cycle of many native animals, plants, birds, fishes, myriad of insects and other tiny creatures. People depend largely on rivers for domestic and agricultural purposes. It is unfortunate that this life support system is degrading fast due to various kinds of human interventions. Among the interventions over exploitation of construction grade sand from river beds (instream sand mining) and their overbanks (floodplain sand mining) is the most disastrous as the activity threatens the very existence of the life support system. The situation is rather alarming in Kerala State, where the rivers are short with limited instream and floodplain sand resources and very high population density. Lack of adequate data base on these issues is a major set back in chalking out strategies for the conservation / management of rivers in the State.

CHARACTERISTICS AND STRUCTURE OF RIVERS

Rivers, being very dynamic, are subjected to changes when the variables that shape and maintain their morphological form are altered. The variables include velocity, slope, width, depth, discharge, size and composition of sediments, and their concentration. Sediment is an essential, integral and dynamic part of river basins. The stability of rivers is the outcome of a delicate balance existing among stream flow, sediment supply from

catchments, stream channel form and other physico-chemical and biological processes operating within the river system. Stream channels transport sediments and water from headwaters to river mouth, systematically depositing and eroding, abrading and breaking sediment particles during the transport process. River sediments include various size grades of particles including such as boulders, cobbles, pebbles, granules to finer sands, silts and clays. Generally high density particles concentrate in low order or upstream part and the finer particles progressively deposit towards the downstream according to the sediment sorting capacities of the river. So, in general gravel- sized particles are more abundant in the middle reaches of river systems, while sand-sized and smaller grains predominate in the lower reaches. River sand is one of the important ingredients in construction sector. River sand is a non renewable natural resource in terms of human life. Whatever replenishment occurs in the lowland part of rivers is derived mainly from the reworking of older floodplain deposits evolved through a process that take thousands of years. Excessive mining has adversely affected the general public, who depend on rivers as a basic necessity. The sand is extracted either directly from the active channels or from floodplain areas and the former is known as „instream mining‟ and the latter as „flood plain mining‟ .

RIVER SAND MINING

Sand mining has been going on in many rivers continuously without any regulations, for long, resulting in changing landscapes and affecting flow regimes. Huge craters are created in the riverbed, deviating river flow from its actual course, destruction of river sides etc are observed at many sites. Gradual changes observed for a number of years in some selected rivers of Kerala are

studied along with changes in river flow and cross-sections. Correlation of these results with the system‟s behaviour is attempted. This identifies with the morphological and environmental impacts of this ongoing activity and cautions for a scientific approach to the issue. It invites attention of policy makers for an integrated and planned approach to river management and also suggests reviewing ownership of water resources, policy and administration. It also proposes governance systems meeting current needs from an environmentally safe angle. The indiscriminate and unscientific sand mining, has become a serious environmental threat to the river systems of Kerala. Environmental destruction is the price mankind has to pay for unsustainable development. Alarming increase in indiscriminate sand mining has caused serious damage to the river system of Kerala. As the demand for sand increases in industry and construction, leads to indiscriminate mining of sand from the rivers. Unlike the other rivers of India, the rivers of Kerala are too small in size and in resource capability. The quantum of sand mined every year is several fold more than what flows down and accumulate in the riverbeds. This situation creates a serious environmental threat to the riverine system. On the other hand sand is an essential construction material and it gives employment to a large sector in our state. So the complete banning of sand mining is not a practicable solution to this multidisciplinary problem. A balanced amount of sand mining enables the river to maintain its stability.

IMPACTS OF SAND MINING

Although sand mining is categorised under the list of one of the most potential disaster capable of annihilating the regenerative property of the land topography, it also has some kind of positive impact to a certain extent. Some of the most important positive and negative impacts are

listed below. Even though the process being destructive, some kind of control reined on the process may help to prevent some potential disasters from occurring.

Negative Impacts Taking into consideration the places of occurrences of the adverse environmental impacts of river sand mining, the impacts can be broadly classified into two categories namely Off- site impacts and On-site impacts. The off-site impacts are, primarily, transport related, whereas, the on-site impacts are generally channel related .The On- site impacts are classified into excavation impacts and water supply impacts. The impacts associated with excavation are channel bed lowering, migration of excavated pits and undermining of structures, bank collapse, caving, bank erosion and valley widening and channel instability. The impacts on water supply are reduced ground water recharge to local aquifers, reduction in storage of water for people and livestock especially during drought periods, contamination of water by oil, gasoline and conflicts between miners and local communities. The reports show that depletion of sand in the streambed and along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion from the nearby sea. Thus instream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through large changes in the channel morphology. Impacts include bed degradation, bed coarsening, lowered water tables near the streambed, and channel instability.

Positive Impacts Sand deposition eventually leads to reduction in conveyance capacity of river leading to flood in rivers. Proper dredging of sand keeps the bed at the desired level. Thus if dredging is not done, due to continuous deposition of

sand, the depth of river may get reduced. This will result in flooding of water and loss of properties. It also facilitates the navigation in the channel as sand is the main fine aggregate in concrete. Riverbeds are major sources of clean sand. An investigation conducted by CESS made it clear that it is very evident that there is a change in traditional housing of People of Kerala. It is observed that the demand of sand for house construction has been increased drastically since early 1970‟s which is reflected well in exponential rise in the number of terraced and tiled houses.

PRACTICE OF SAND MINING IN KERALA

In Kerala, river sand is manually scooped from the river bed and collected in a country boat anchored in the river. The sand is then brought to the river bank and stored in a stocking yard close to the bank, called „kadavu‟. The sand thus stocked is then delivered to the construction site in lorries. The volume of river sand that can be carried in a standard lorry is 4-5 m3. The local bodies within which the „kadavus‟ are located are empowered to regulate and control the quarrying of river sand within it. The government of Kerala has formulated and put into practice a number of measures for the control and regulation of quarrying of river sand. Now, the sale of river sand at the „Kadavus„ is strictly on a quantitative basis in terms of lorry loads with proper passes issued for each lorry load. A set of labourers are registered for each „kadavu‟, and they alone are permitted to quarry river sand from that „kadavu‟. The permitted quantum of quarrying of river sand in each „kadavu‟ is based on the recommendations of experts in the field. The price of a lorry load of sand that is to be collected at the „kadavu‟, and the manner in which that amount is to be apportioned among wages to labourers engaged in sand quarrying, royalty to the Mining and

Geology Department of the Government of Kerala, credit to the River Management fund and income to the local body are all collectively decided by a District Level Expert Committee with the District Collector as the Chairman. The charge levied for a standard lorry load of sand at the „kadavu‟ is 10000 Rupees.

STUDY AREA

We selected Arakunnu, one of the prominent mining sites

in the course of River Neyyar as our area of study. The

Neyyar River is the southern-most river of Kerala State. It

emerges from Agastya hills at about 1865m above MSL and

debouches into Arabian Sea after flowing a distance of 56

Km. The Neyyar River basin lies between 8o 15‟ to 8o 40‟ N

latitudes and 77o00‟ to 77o20‟ E longitude in

Thiruvananthapuram District. The basin has a total area of

483 sq. km covering 24 panchayats. The main tributaries of

the Neyyar are Chit Ar, Kall Ar, Karavali Ar, Mull Ar,

Aruvikod Thodu, Maruthur Thodu, Edamalai Thodu and

Talakke thodu. The basin receives an average annual

rainfall of 1542 mm. Physiographically, the river basin can

be divided into midlands (8-75m) and lowlands(less than

8m) ;( CESS, 1984). The Neyyar river basin mainly comprises

of three different lithological units, i.e. Archaean formation

in the Upper region, the Archaean formation except

quartzite of khondalite group in the Middle region and

coastal sand and alluvium, sandstone and clay with lignite

intercalation of Warkalli (Varkala) formation and quartz

feldspar hypersthene granulite, charnockitic gneiss and

hypersthene diopside gneiss of charnockite group in the

Lower region. The area experiences tropical humid climate

with an average annual rainfall of about 3300mm.The

temperature varies from 200c to 390 C. Humidity is high

(more than 80%) during the monsoon period.

The map showing the Neyyar River Basin is given below.

METHODOLOGY

The location of the sand mining sites are located

through the google maps imagery. Primary and secondary

data available are collected and they are used as references

for making the required data regarding the problem. One of

the 9 major illegal sand mining sites in the river course is

Arakunnu, has been visited by us on the day October 2nd.

Two guides, Dr R. Anilkumar (Associate Professor) and

Shaji Johnson (Assistant Professor) of the Geography

department in University College guided us in the study of

the area and explained the problem of the area. Some

photographs on the area have been taken by us. We also did

an interview with the local residents and studied the

problem they have been encountering with the sand mining

and the sand mafia involved in the area. We have seen

some of the damaged structures in the area as well as those

structures like road bridge and railway bridge which are

vulnerable to threats.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE

PROBLEM AREA

River sand is mined extensively from the lower course

of the Neyyar River, stretching for about 30 KM from

Aruvippuram in the north to Poovar in the south. All the

sand mining locations of the basin are within this 30 KM

stretch. Aruvippuram, Chemparathivila, Palakkadavu,

Arakkunnu, Olathani and Poovar are the major sand

mining sites in the Neyyar River basin. Among these,

Olathani, Arakkunnu and Palakkadavu are the sand

mining sites selected for the present investigation. The sand

mining locations are locally known as „Kadavus' and the

selected locations, Olathani, Arakkunnu and Palakkadavu

have length of 2.2 Km, 2.9 Km and 1.6 Km respectively. In

stream sand mining as well as flood plain mining is

prevalent in these areas.

OCTOBER 2nd (the day of visit)

We visited Arakunnu, one of the main sites for illegal

sand mining in the Neyyar river basin. It was the

downstream portion of Neyyar dam. Upon arrival we saw

from a distance a set of boats on the far side of the river

bank. There was heavy activity going on there. A group of

workers were busy plunging long poles into the river bed

and another group were getting lowered into the water

holding onto the poles. They could be seen coming out after

sometime with pails of mud. Our guide explained that the

poles were used to loosen the consolidated soil from the river

bed and then the workers took deep breaths and plunged

into the water holding onto the poles and would collect as

much as mud during the time they could hold their breath.

Our guide Dr R. Anilkumar , an Associate Professor in

Geography explained that the river had a width of 72m

from bank to bank. But due to continuous mining of the

lateral banks of the river the width of the river is now

increased to about 142m. Due to the heavy inundation of the

bank by the river 14 houses got destroyed since the year

1990. Nearly 50 coconut trees were uprooted.

The type of sand found in the river bank is a mix of alluvial

and silt. There is also the availability of soil which is used

for making bricks. So it was no wonder that we could see a

couple of smoking brick kilns (or chullas in Malayalam)

close by. When we asked how they can smuggle this illegal

sand and bricks , our guide remarked that they have an

alternate route through private properties free of

checkposts and every day around 50 mini lorries carrying

50 cubic feet of sand each illegally. The workers are paid

high wages because of their dangerous and arduous

endeavour. It is reported during the investigation that, Just

the day before we arrived , on the October 1st there was a

police raid and a fraction of the boats were destroyed. Upon

asked why the entire set of boats were not seized and why

the mining is still continuing and why the secret routes

were not cordoned off, he gave off a short laugh and said

“But of course, the police are also involved. And this was

just to fool the public that they are taking some action.” We

are discussing the problem in detail below. Studying things

in the text books and studying things by visiting the sites is

quite a different experience because seeing is more effective

than reading. It broke our hearts to see the destruction of

the topography and also the structures like houses which are

under serious threat under the effects of sand mining.

SAND EXTRACTION IN DETAIL

The sand is quarried with the help of small traditional

Indian style boat in which has a low lateral dimension

compared to its longitudinal dimension. Two or three people

get into the boat at a time and they use a long pole made of

wood about 10-12 metres long to check the depth of the river.

Then a person dives into the water rapidly by sliding

through the pole and carry some amount of sand in the

basket they carry and quickly resurface and collects it on

the boat. This is quite a risky profession yet some people are

willing to take the risk because of the money involved.

People of almost young age to old age take part in these

activities. There have been cases of people drowning while

doing the diving. The sand consisting of silt is separated

from the clay portion of the sand by washing. This sand is

carried to the lorry which can hold about fifty cubic feet of

sand.

Problems encountered in the place

1) Ground water depletion

The removal of sand from the river bed increases the velocity of the flowing water; the distorted flow-regime eventually erodes the river banks. Beside these on-site effects, the off-site effects are also quite lethal. Sand acts like a sponge, which helps in recharging the water table; its progressive depletion in the river is accompanied by sinking water tables in the nearby areas, adversely impacting people‟s daily lives, even their livelihood. As a result the wells in the locality had little or no water. The hand pumps stopped working. When groundwater is depleted, the effects on the landscape and the people are drastic. Agriculture is adversely affected. Furthermore in the worst case scenario ,"Cones of depression" are formed . This happens when too much water is drawn out of a water table without letting it recharge and a large area of the land sinks in. "Sink holes" may also form when an underground cavern or channel collapses and creates a crater in the earth‟s surface. The Farmers in the locality are reconsidering their occupation. But what else can they do .The people involved in this mafia are trying to coerce them into selling their land by offering substantial sums of money. As a result

many have yielded , but a few stay put. But they are in perpetual fear and are highly apprehensive of their future.

2) Houses getting destroyed

Around 14 houses vanished from the area. We visited a

family residing in the vicinity. The old lady in the house

was vehemently saying that during the monsoon season, she

got the fright of her life when she saw that the water level

was rising rapidly. “ As I went around the backyard of my

house, I looked down and saw that the water level has risen

to such an extent that any time her house was in danger of

getting flooded. And looking at the waters rising rapidly, I

could not do anything but cry for help. But It was in vain”.

When asked whether the sand mining has anything to do

with the water level rising, the man explained that they it

has everything to do with the water level rising. “This you

see here, pointing to his house, is our second house. Our old

house got destroyed 20 years back. We had plenty of land

and kunthirikam groove. But now, pointing at a bare patch

of land with nothing, but few yam stalks, all of it is gone.

Now all that remains is a meagre eight to ten cents. Our

house is standing on nought but loose soil. And any day it

may get washed away. And the little that we have that also

will be lost.”

3) Formation of Ox-Bow lake

An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed

when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is

cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow

lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of

a yoke for oxen. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-

shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off

from the main stream.

An oxbow lake is formed when a river creates a meander,

due to the river's eroding the bank through hydraulic action

and abrasion/corrosion. After a long period of time, the

meander becomes very curved, and eventually the neck of

the meander will touch the opposite side and the river will

cut through the neck, cutting off the meander to form the

oxbow lake.

Such kind of Ox-bow lake got formed. And the main reason

is the illicit mining of sand and the subsequent deposition of

sand to form a small islet in between the main river and the

lake. As a result the river ecosystem got disturbed. There is

formation of water hyacinth , algal growth and the

associated problem of eutrophication in the lake.

4) Destruction of ecosystem

The riverine ecosystem is under serious threat due to the

mining activites taking place in the river. Many of the

aquatic organisms in the river have already been destroyed.

A long time back this region of was known to have

sufficient fish but, now the life in the ecosystem has been

extinguished due to these activities because of the disrupt in

the food chain and the ecological imbalance.

5) Decline of moral ethics

The money the people obtain through this illegal

activity is primarily wasted through alcohol consumption.

None of the money is used for developmental activities or

for the social welfare. This disrupts the moral values of the

people and finally to the destruction of the ethics of the

society. This can lead to commitment of insane acts. Thus

the money the people earn through sand mining is of no use.

Interview with M.r Vinod Kumar and family

House destroyed in 1978.

Nearly now have just a meagre 8 or 10 cents. They are very

much apprehensive of the imminent collapse of the bridge.

Your occupation , sir?

Mainly I am working as a carpenter in Wayanad. I

also used to cultivate kunthirikam, tapioca,arecanut but

now I lost all these crops because ever since sand mining

took place I lost my four cents of land that had these crops.

Our soil is eight metres deep. It consists of different layers

namely the top soil, yellow sand, panchara sand .

What are the other problems faced by you ?

Look, this is my second house newly constructed. My

old house got eroded in floods in the 1978.Our soil fertility is

lost. We can‟t even draw water from our well. You can see

for yourself what is the level of water in the well. Also our

hand pump stopped working. Once during the monsoon

season when the dam was opened, the flow was so strong

that it took away a chunk of the land. This you can see in

our backyard and that night the water was rising so

rapidly that our newly constructed house was in danger of

flooding. Besides, the railway bridge you see a little more

than three hundred metres away, well It may collapse one

day.

Did you complain to the respective authorities of

this illegal mining?

Of course, but whenever I go, there I am sent from one

department to another and besides they pay no attention to

a poor carpenter like me. A few days earlier some

policemen came and destroyed a few boats. They come

occasionally like this and do a raid , but after a few days

the mining starts all over again. Whenever they approach

the concerned authorities they are asked to go from one

person to another.

Did the miscreants ask you to sell your land?

Yes, they approached us a dozen times. There used to be

fourteen other houses in this neighbourhood. But each one of

them sold their land a total of around ten cents. And they

all after receiving the money relocated to somewhere else.

The former approached me with ten thousand rupees. But I

refused. So this time they upped the ante to one lakh rupees.

If I also give in to them then this land will also disappear

and most importantly it will hasten the collapse of the

bridge yonder. It is because the river turns a bend round

their land before approaching the bridge , so if their land is

also mined then automatically the bridge becomes

vulnerable.

FUTURE CONSEQUENCES

It is highly probable that, if this sort of unscrupulous

sand mining continues the railway bridge would collapse in

a few years from now. The remnant of the houses that are

there will also vanish. Either the whole community will

perish or they will be relocated with poor rehabilitation and

out of them only a very few will be able to regress. The

oxbow lake may grow in size because of further sand

mining and the remaining portion of land together with the

rare species of kunthirikam trees will be lost. The lives of the

people living in these areas are under constant threat and

this will prevail unless the government takes direct action

against these issues which is highly unlikely because of the

corrupt and lethargic nature of the political system. There

is a chance of high degree of moral decline in the future

because of increase in alcohol consumption and quarrels

involving the illegal sand mining. The topography of the

land can change so much that it will be really hard to

believe that the pristine beauty of the place which was

revered will be shattered to oblivion because of the

unscrupulous and illogical actions carried out by some of

the natives of the area. The railway bridge and also the

road bridge is under threat. If the mining continues in the

same pattern there is bound to be the collapse of these

structures. The railway bridge is constructed

unscientifically so there is a greater risk to it due sand

mining. Let‟s pray that the authorities responsible for the

area may not turn blind eye towards the problem of this

place and do some actions which may curb this

unscrupulous activity.

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK

The root cause of this problem can be traced to the

greed in money of some of the higher ups in the society and

the unethical acts carried out by them to satisfy their

insatiable greed for money. Very high level of corruption

exists in the government and police governing the area. So

this problem can only be solved if the topmost sector of the

government takes direct action in purging the wide

network of corruption existing at different levels. The local

police near these areas are turning blind eye towards all the

illegal activities. Once in a while the police destroy the

mining facilities to a minimum extent to show that justice is

being carried out to the public. But the problem keeps on

aggravating a lot as the days go by.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION

Proper education of the people is one way in which you

can tackle the problem. A better understanding on the

problem through scientific methods can help the people to

understand the future threats which will be caused by the

sand mining. Curbing this activity through government

intervention seems to be impossible because of the

corruption existing in various levels. Only the joined effort

by the people can be instrumental in tackling this problem.

Suppression of the sand mafia and well protection given to

people can help the people to stand up against the problems

present in these areas.

SUMMARY WITH TECHNICAL DETAILS

River sand accumulation was a problem in these sites

before 30 years, it caused frequent floods in the basinal area

and the flood occurred in 1978 can be cited as an example

which made a severe damage in the catchments as it was

reported during the investigation. The sand extraction from

the riverbed in the earlier periods was done with

traditional methods without harming the environment,

under the supervision of local authorities. The sand thus

extracted was used locally for construction purposes. This

situation has changed since 1990 when commercial sand

extraction started in the area by invading the river banks

on either side of the Neyyar River even by encroaching

upon the land bordering the river banks. There are

instances that the sand mafia even purchase the private

lands to extract the sand by digging the lands adjacent to

the river bank. Whenever the land is used for the extraction

of sand, the river water enters into that part and makes the

area as part of the river which further compels the

neighbouring people to sell their land holdings for sand

extraction; otherwise they cannot live there due to many

reasons.

Fig. A road constructed to transport sand within the

Neyyar river - a scene from Olathani

TABLE I

SAND MINING IN NEYYAR RIVER

Sl.No Sand

Mining Site

Mining

started

since

No. of

workers

No. of vessels

used

Quantity/load per day

1 Arakkunnu 2000 500 75 50

2 Palakkadavu 1990 75 10 8

3 Olathani 1980 200 50 25

The total number of workers (Table No.1) engaging in the

sand mining activity in these three sites is 775 and this was

very less in the earlier periods when the resource was not

commercially exploited in this rural area exclusively based

on agrarian economy. The sand mining activities start in

the early mornings and prolong till the noon. As the people

can earn much within a short time is also attracting more

young people in the rural areas to this field. The workers

include sand miners, head load workers and transporting

persons which shows the diversification of the activities that

attract the people from various sectors to this field. The age

structures of the people engaged in these activities vary

between 17years and 55years. The wages offering to the

labours is attractive and is one of the main reasons for more

number of people move towards sand mining related

activities.

It is reported; a noticeable increase in the number of vessels

used in sand mining activity in the area which numbers 105

in all these three sites at present. The sand extraction in the

mining sites are of the order Arakkunnu>

Olathani > >Palakkadavu (See Table 1). The quantity of sand

extracted per day in the selected sites varies from 8 lorry

loads in Palakkadavu to 50 lorry loads in Arakkunnu.

IMPACT OF SAND MINING IN THE NEYYAR

RIVER BASIN

River basins have long been exploited as source of fine

aggregates for building constructions. Depending up on the

geomorphic/ geologic setting, river sand mining can impose

serious environmental consequences in the long run (UNEP,

1990).The cumulative effects of uncontrolled sand mining

have substantially altered the physical as well as social

environment of Neyyar river basin. It is noticed during the

investigation that degradation of river is severe in the

alluvial reaches of midland compared to the low lands. In

some cases, the river bank itself being scooped first for brick

making and then intervening sand layers for fine

aggregates.

It is now well understood that indiscriminate sand

mining leads to serious environmental problems in river

basin. Excavation of mining pits in the streambed causes

the deepening of streambed which causes for the lowering of

water table in the neighbourhood. In the sand mining

locations of Neyyar river stretches, like Olathani and

Arakkunnu, the depth of the river bed is about 8.6 m, 7.0 m

respectively. The sand mining in flood plain has widened

the river channel in all these mining sites.

TABLE II

WIDENINING OF RIVER COURSE

Sl.No Sand Mining

Site

River width in 1961

(metres)

River width in 2008 (metres)

1 Arakkunnu 72.33 134.41

2 Palakkadavu 57.64 183.42

3 Olathani 56.44 125.16

The width of the river in Olathani was 56.44 m in 1961,

which has increased to 125.16 m in 2008 (Table.2).Sand

mining in the Palakkadavu area has widened the river

from 57.64 m in 1961 to 183.42 meters and in Arakkunnu

area it is from 72.33 m in 1961 to 134.41 meters in 2008.

Erosion of the river banks and the changes in the river

course are severe in the Arakkunnu area. The river course

was curved in the Arakkunnu area, due to sand mining in

the left bank of the river in the locality after creating an

artificial bund parallel to the river bank has resulted in the

bifurcation of the river .The continued sand extraction in

the left bank has straightened the river course leaving the

actual river course a pond. The two bridges (one Road

Bridge and one Railway Bridge) in the Arakkunnu area

were constructed when the river course was not

metamorphosed; the present changed course of the river is

threatening the existence of these structures by eroding the

river banks nearby at a faster rate. The river bank in

between the bridges is in continuous erosion and whereby

the buildings constructed in the nearby area are in danger.

There is an urgent need to strengthen the river banks in the

area otherwise it would lead to the collapse of the bridges.

The agricultural fields adjacent to the river banks in the

area are also negatively affected due to the continued river

bank erosion accelerated by the indiscriminate sand mining

in the river bank. Thirty four coconut trees were uprooted

during the recent rainy season in the Arakkunnu area

alone.

Changed river course in Arakkunnu area

Changed river course in Olathani area

Changed river course in Palakkadavu area

Flood plain sand mining has lead to the loss of adjacent

lands which includes both private and government

properties. Apart from a huge loss of land it also poses

threat to ecological and landuse aspects in the area. In the

Olathani area alone, a loss of more than 50 acres of land has

been occurred. Sand mining has a direct effect on the

quality of water available in the area. The water is of poor

quality and is mainly due to sand mining (KSCSTE,

2oo4).Assessment of samples collected from these areas

revealed that the water is unsuitable for irrigation. There is

a substantial increase of pH value of water in the area.

Well water levels in Olathani and Arakkunnu areas

lowered due to the riverbed sand mining. Spreading of the

marshy lands is a serious issue in the sand mining sites of

Arakkunnu and Olathani. Stagnation of water is in the

sand extracted deep pits in the riverbed favours the

mosquito breeding and causes the spread of diseases like

Malaria in the area which is a serious problem in

Arakkunnu, Olathani and Palakkadavu.

A railway bridge under threat in Arakkunnu

Illegal sand extraction in the riverbed has far reaching

impacts on the society and it has created many

disturbances in the social wellbeing of the people in the area.

There is an increase in the events of conflicts in the area.

Majority of the people who engage in sand mining are the

outsiders and they force the people through different means

in order to obtain their lands and those who take any

actions against them will be attacked. The value of sand in

the market is very high and is more than 10,000 rupees per

load. This has attracted them to indulge in the illegal sand

mining activities. The money received from these sources is

used for many anti-social activities. There is a substantial

increase in the alcohol consumption, as reported from the

area. The deep pits formed as a result of sand mining have

caused the death of more than 25 people in the area and the

majority of the victims are the teenagers due to drowning.

Land value has also considerably increased in the area

because of sand mining.

CONCLUSION

River sand mining has impact on the environment as

well as on society. The study conducted in the Neyyar River

as a case for dying of rivers due to human activities

revealed that River bank erosion, valley slumping and

channel widening are severe in the area. Two bridges

including a railway bridge and four houses nearby the area

are under the threat of collapse due to river bank erosion in

Arakkunnu area. Water quality has alarmingly decreased

and water table has considerably lowered in the area.

Landuse has changed substantially in all the sand mining

sites of the Neyyar river basin. Stagnation of water in the

area lead to many health problems. In the social

environment, conflicts, and alcoholism have increased and

is disturbing the wellbeing of the people.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “River sand mining in the Neyyar river basin” is a bonafide record work done by the group consisting of A.J Moses, Chaithanya Ramkumar, Ansu U, Arun Vijayan and Akhil P.A for the B-Tech EVS course curriculum during the year 2011 done under my supervision. The data presented here is purely authentic and is done as part of the final project presentation in the above mentioned course.

Thiruvananthapuram