| Author: T.M.Sankaran 01 Nov 2009 | Member Level: Gold | Rating:  Points: 6 (Rs. 3) |
My preference would be for harvesting rain water. Today because of different types of human interference the land pattern is completely changed. Earlier nature had created its own means for preserving rain water. It was automatically created by the nature, and also it centuries for the formation. For example a forest, which is a cluster of different species of trees, with varying heights. Starting with bushes, a forest will consist of trees of different heights and their canopies. The rain water is first checked by this canopies and slowly it reaches the ground. On the surface of the ground there will be a thick coverage of old leaves forming a bed like carpet which absorbs the rain water, slowly. It gets into the soil as a next step. There also, the level of roots will be varying depending on the varieties of trees present. These roots again retains the water and allows only a slow seepage. Finally, the water reaches the rivers. It takes months together for this process. Thus the rain water reaches the rivers by summer time, which guarantees the availability of water throughout the year.
If there are no water, what is the need for linking the rivers ? This linking has got other environmental problems also.
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| Author: T.M.Sankaran 12 Nov 2009 | Member Level: Gold | Rating: Points: 6 |
I may add a little more information about river linking.
Scientists at the School of Industrial Fisheries under the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) have warned that the proposed river-linking project will permanently alter the habitat of a large number of fish varieties and may even force them to extinction.
Any move to interlink the rivers will severely alter the fish habitat parameters like flow velocity, nature of substratum, type of microhabitat and vegetation governing the presence of these fishes, they pointed out.
These factors were also found to be highly species-specific and determined the reasons for their confinements to an area to a great extent.
During the study, it was found that the critical parameters like flow velocity, marginal river vegetation, nature of sub stratum, fish hiding places and water temperature governed the endemic of the seven species from 70 to 90 per cent.
Any attempt to link the rivers will upset these habitat parameters, scientists said.
Developing a Habitat Suitability Index model for each of the species of endemic fishes is of utmost importance in India considering the fact that majority of them are facing the threat of extinction due to habitat alterations, they added. This team has already developed such models for seven endangered species.
In the habitat inventory study conducted in the rivers of the Western Ghat region of Kerala, the scientific team identified a total number of 143 fish species. Of them, 29 are endangered, 14 critically endangered and 31 endemic to Kerala waters of which seven are undergoing drastic reduction in number.
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