If there is anything that has put people in Palakkad into a tizzy these days, it is the blistering heat, which shows no sign of abating any time soon. With the mercury soaring above 40 degrees Celsius in the first fortnight of March itself, the entire district is now inching towards a blazing summer with extreme scarcity of drinking water and frequent outbreak of epidemics.
With the much awaited summer showers nowhere in sight, areas such as eastern Attappady and Chittur have started wilting under the blistering heat. Drinking water has already turned into a precious commodity even in urban areas like Ottappalam, Pattambi and Thrithala.
The highest temperature is now being recorded in Malampuzha, Mundur and Pattambi where people prefer to keep themselves indoors to avoid sunstroke.
Flouride content in water
While eastern Attappady depends heavily on water-carrying tanker lorries, the water situation remains extremely precarious in Eruthempathy, Kozhinjampra and Vadakarapathy grama panchayats of Chittur taluk, where groundwater remains inconsumable due to high fluoride content. The poor allocation of Kerala’s share from the Aliyar reservoir under the inter-State Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) has affected the drinking water supply projects in the three panchayats adversely. The arid regions located close to Pollachi in Tamil Nadu have also been hit by water shortage.
As far as people in the tribal regions of Attappady are concerned, the drinking water situation is showing a little improvement with the construction of make shift check-dams in the Siruvani river using sand bags, ignoring stiff opposition from Tamil Nadu.
When Mundur recorded the highest temperature of 41 degrees Celsius of this summer on March 2, it was three degrees more than the temperature recorded on the day last year. The average daytime temperature in Palakkad district is now 39 degrees Celsius. With the temperature increasing to alarming levels, there are apprehensions about sunburn cases across the district.
On its part, the State government has already regulated the work schedules of those working in farmlands and open spaces to avoid instances of sunstroke.
Possibility of sunburn
According to district medical officer K.P. Reetha, sunburn deaths could occur when temperature touches 43-44 degrees Celsius. Those people with heart ailments could be affected even at lower temperatures, she adds. The Health Department has also warned of summer-related diseases like cholera and typhoid.
With Kerala’s second largest river Bharathapuzha turning into a trickle by the end of February itself, almost all the drinking water schemes dependent on it have landed in crisis. According to officials, the Parali-Thrithala stretch of the river is the worst affected.
“This time, the river dried much ahead of the summer. In most areas, the river looks covered with shrubs and weeds and no water flow in sight,’’ said Vinod Nambiar, a river protection activist. Unlike in the previous years, pumping from the river at Ottappalam, Shoranur, Vaniyamkulam, Ambalapra and Lakkidi remains largely affected owing to shortage in rainfall. Amidst all the chaos, trucks can be seen moving to the middle of the riverbed to collect sand.
Supply of drinking water is a brisk business in all major areas. Some eateries are planning temporary closure owing to scarcity of water. Agriculture is badly affected and paddy cultivators are the worst hit. Wild animals have started straying into residential areas in places such as Mannarkkad, Malampuzha, Kongad, Attappady and Walayar following the drying up of water sources inside the forest. In Pattambi, Shornur and Ottappalam, which depend on check-dams built over the Bharathapuzha for their drinking water needs, the situation is even worse. “High prevalence of coliform bacteria was reported during last summer from these regions.
Water quality checks
The Kerala Water Authority has to ensure adequate quality checks this time,” says social worker Prasad K Shornur. The only area that has remained cooler so far is the Nelliampathy hills.
