JOIN USIn Erode, heaps of garbage are being dumped by lorries and vans belonging to the Erode Corporation. “All our petitions have fallen on the deaf ears of the authorities. After our protests two years back, the authorities gave an undertaking that they will change the dumping yard, but nothing has moved so far,” Nilavan, an activist fighting for the restoration of Cauvery, told DH.
The garbage is burnt inside the river every night. The river looked like a floating garbage dump yard last August when the Cauvery was brimming with water. “Despite the incident in August last year, no efforts have been taken to shift the dumping yard. Is it not a crime to dump garbage into the river?” he asked.
An industry expert in Erode alleged that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) does not educate industries about the effluents. When hazardous waste is dumped, the industries are sealed but no proper guidance or advice is given to them, the expert said, adding that the TNPCB lacks monitoring skills and equipment.
“Industries are hesitant to invest in technology that ensures zero discharge waste,” the expert said.
Drastic land use change threatens Cauvery
Unchecked urbanisation in the form of unregulated conversion of agricultural lands in the Cauvery basin poses a serious threat to the river’s sustenance.
The Cauvery basin has seen a drastic change in land use and land cover, with an increase in built-up area by 41% since 2003, according to data made public by the Centre for Lake Conservation of the Environmental Management Policy & Research Institute (EMPRI). The 2017 EMPRI study, which assessed the current status of the Cauvery in Karnataka, is the latest available report on how human activities have altered the river’s ecosystem. Not surprisingly, the study found that the most drastic change in land use and land cover happened in Kodagu district. Sample this: Agricultural land in Kodagu decreased from 77% to 72% while built-up area rose from 3% to 8%. “Say, I own a site and I quietly extend it to the buffer zone. There’s no one to see,” Kodagu-based activist M N Chandramohan says. After last year’s devastating floods in Kodagu, the state government has banned conversion of agricultural land for commercial purposes. In one decade, the Cauvery basin has seen 31% increase in urban built-up area, 77% in rural built-up area and 74% in industrial area in Kodagu, Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Ramanagara and Chamarajanagar districts.