1 Eco News, Vol. 19, No. 2 July - September 2013 - cpreec.orgcpreec.org/pdf/Eco_News_July_Sept_2013_Vol_19_No_2.pdf · this problem. CPREEC, ... office complexes and garbage disposal

1Eco News, Vol. 19, No. 2 July - September 2013

Eco News, Vol. 19, No. 2 July - September 20132

Established in 1989

✯ 1980 - The C.P. Ramaswami AiyarFoundation starts nature education forteachers and students.

✯ 1989 - C.P.R. Environmental EducationCentre (CPREEC) established jointlyby the Ministry of Environment andForests and the C.P. Ramaswami AiyarFoundation as a Centre of Excellence ofthe Ministry of Environment and Forests.Government of India.

Our Mission

✯ To increase knowledge, awareness andinterest among the public about theenvironment in all its aspects

✯ To develop resource materials forenvironmental education andawareness raising

✯ To conduct training programmes for awide cross-section of people

✯ To take up environmental projects fordemonstration and research

Our Activities

✯ Training and awareness raising✯ Awareness to and through action✯ Awareness programmes in ecologically

fragile areas✯ Conservation of the ecological heritage✯ Research and surveys✯ Generation of resource materials✯ Exhibitions✯ Courses, seminars and symposia

Facilities

✯ Environmental Laboratory✯ Library✯ Computer Division✯ Publications Division

Geographical Spread

CPREEC’s activities extend to

✯ Andaman & Nicobar Islands✯ Andhra Pradesh✯ Goa✯ Karnataka

C.P.R. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE

✯ Kerala✯ Maharashtra✯ Orissa✯ Tamilnadu✯ Puducherry

NGO Network

CPREEC has an extensive network of about600 NGOs. All educational programmes arecarried out in partnership with select NGOs,Universities, Colleges and Schools.

Publications

✯ Activity and information books and pam-phlets for children

✯ Environmental training guides and kitsfor teachers

✯ Researched Publications✯ Colourful and informative posters✯ ECONEWS - A quarterly magazine✯ Indian Journal of Environmental

Education, a peer-reviewed journal

Exhibitions

CPREEC designs three new exhibitions ev-ery year and has a bank of mobileexhibitions that travel all over India.

Environmental Education

✯ Green Schools of India (GSI)✯ Training programmes for Teachers✯ Training programmes for School and

College Students✯ Environmental Law Education

Special Projects

✯ National Green Corps (NGC)✯ Biomedical Waste✯ Biodiversity Conservation

Research and Surveys

✯ Sustainable Technologies✯ Surveys of Natural Resources✯ Socio-Economic Surveys✯ Lab to Field Technology Transfer


Water is one of the pre-requisites

for life on earth. No living creatures or

plant can exist without it. It is also

essential for the preservation of the

environment. The United Nations has

designated the year 2013 as the

International Year of Water Cooperation.

Water and Biodiversity is also the

theme for the International Day for

Biological Diversity in 2013. This

provides a platform for the parties to

the convention on Biological Diversity

(CBD) as also the world community in

general to be seized of this matter and

take pro-active steps to not only create

awareness about this vital issue, but

also to take positive measures to solve

this problem. CPREEC, for its part, is

bringing out a quarterly Newsletter

entitled “Eco News” that focuses on

these vital issues affecting our water

security as well as the environmental

challenges facing our community.

Chennai city has been facing a severe

water crisis since the 1980s and there is

an urgent need for an immediate urban

renewal programme that will tackle the

problems of urbanization and pollution.

Dr. T. Sundaramoorthy has written about

the importance of the restoration of the

ancient temple tanks as also the cleaning

up of the Chennai rivers through the

Chennai River Restoration Trust (CRRT),

M. Lakshmi Sree discusses the Cooum,

once a fresh water river and now a

stream of sewage, in Chennai, while

M. Amirthalingm writes about Chennai’s

shrinking wetlands. P. Sudhakar makes

a case for preserving the biodiversity of

the parks of Chennai and the importance

of protecting these green patches that

act as the lungs of Chennai city. Following

this, M. Kumaravelu has highlighted

the Benagudi Shola sacred grove of the

Nilgiris and the cultural and spiritual

values that they help to preserve even

today. Finally, there is an article on the

toxicity of the Musi River in Hyderabad

and the spread of Zoonatic diseases

through the food habits of birds.

Nanditha Krishna

Editor


Contents

Conservation of Water Resources of Chennai – The Need of the hour ------------ 5

River Cooum : A Boon or Bane to Chennai ----------------------------------------------- 9

Chennai’s wetlands: A shrinking natural heritage --------------------------------------12

Life Forms of Park Flora -----------------------------------------------------------------------16

Banagudi Shola ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------18

Geo-engineering --------------------------------------------------------------------------------21

Significance of Bioindicators ----------------------------------------------------------------24

Plastics threats to Musi birds – Disease spreads for Hyderabad’s -----------------27

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

will become an online magazine from 2014. ThereforeNo new subscriptions will be accepted.

Please Visit us on : www.econewscpreec.com


Conserving the Water Resources ofChennai – The Need of the HourT. Sundaramoorthy

IntroductionThe major problem with India’s waterresources is that it varies greatly over bothtime and space. Nearly three-quarters ofIndia’s rain comes pouring down duringthe four months of the monsoon. For therest of the year, the country remainsrelatively dry. There are 14 major, 44medium and 55 minor river basins inour country. India has an annualexploitable groundwater of 26.5 millionhectare meters. India’s groundwaterresources are about 10 times its annualrainfall. But this water is declining inmany areas due to the developmentalactivities. The average rainfall in India isabout 1200 mm. It is a little above theglobal mean precipitation of 990 mm.River basin conservation is thus veryessential for drinking water, agricultureand others.

Water resources in TamilnaduTamilnadu is one of the driest states inIndia, averaging only 925 millimeters ofrainfall a year. Per capita availability ofwater resources in Tamilnadu is only900 cubic meters a year, compared with2,200 cubic meters for the whole of India.The state’s dry season lasts five months(January through May) even in good years,and severe droughts occur in 3 of 10 years,severely limiting cultivation of cropsbetween June and September. A recentseries of droughts and water shortageshas highlighted the importance ofgood water resources and irrigationmanagement.

Tamilnadu’s geographic area can begrouped into 17 river basins (127 SubBasins) a majority of which are water-stressed. There are 61 major reservoirs,about 40,000 tanks (traditional waterharvesting structures) and about 3 millionwells that heavily utilize the availablesurface water and groundwater.Approximately 30% of the net irrigatedarea of 30 lakh hectares is watered bycanals and 21% by tanks, while 49% isfed by wells. The remaining area is irrigatedby other sources such as streams andsprings.

Conservation of Chennai River BasinThe Chennai river basin comprises ofAraniyar, Kosasthalaiyar, Cooum andAdyar rivers. The length of the river basinis 329 km passing through Thiruvallur,parts of Kancheepuram and Velloredistricts in Tamilnadu.

The urban expansion of Chennai city isone of the fastest in the country. Thepresent metropolitan area of Chennaicity is 1189 sq. kms. and the presentpopulation is about 5 million. Thepopulation density is 26,903 per sq.km.The expansion of the city is happeningin the two neighbouring districts ofKanchipuram and Thiruvallur. TheGovernment of Tamilnadu is planning toinclude the entire districts ofKanchipuram and Thiruvallur and a partof Vellore district to form the proposednew Chennai Metropolitan Area with an


area of 8,878 sq. kms. As per the studycarried out by Madras Institute ofDevelopment Studies (MIDS, 2013),

there are about 3600 water bodies(irrigation tanks). Apart from this, thereare temple tanks and ponds.

The major water bodies supplying drinking water to Chennai are as follows:

Storage of Chennai City Water Supply Reservoirs

Reservoirs Gross Capacity Live Capacity Catchment Area Water(MCM) (MCM) (km2) spread

Area(ha)

Chembarambakkam 88.30 87.80 77 350Porur 1.04 4.90 22.64 320Poondi 77.90 77.40 2704 3230Red Hills 80.75 80.25 59.57 2086Sholavaram 25.63 25.43 28.33 2258

(Source: Public Works Department, Government of Tamilnadu)

Chennai is famous for its temples. Several temples have a temple tank within itspremises. The temple tanks help in increasing the water table in residential areas.The list of major temple tanks in Chennai city is given below:

Major Temple Tanks in Chennai City serving as storage tanks

S. No. Name of the temple Place

1. Thiagaraja Swamy Thiruvottriyur2. Kalyana Venkatesa Perumal Kaladipet3. Angala Parameswari Royapuram4. Arunachaleswarar Tondiyarpet5. Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Peddanaikenpet6. Manneswarar George Town7. Krishnan Mannadi8. Ekambareswarar Mint9. Kachaleeswarar George Town10. Angala Parameswari Choolai11. Kandasamy Kosapet12. Gangatheeswarar Purasawalkam13. Agatheeswarar Nungambakkam14. Karaneeswarar Saidapet15. Prasanna Venkatesar Saidapet16. Agatheeswarar Villivakkam17. Vadapalani Andavar Vadapalani18. Masilamaneeswarar Thirumullaivoil19. Adipuriswarar Chindadripet20. Parasuramalingeswarar Ayanavaram


S. No. Name of the temple Place

21. Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Ayanavaram22. Velleswarar Valasaravakkam23. Kothandaramasamy West Mambalam24. Marundeeswarar Thiruvanmiyur25. Kapaleeswarar Mylapore26. Virupaksheeswarar Mylapore27. Adikesava Perumal Mylapore28. Parthasarathy Triplicane29. Kandeeswarar Velachery30. Thiruvottiswarar Triplicane31. Vengeswarar Kodambakkam32. Raveeswarar Vyasarpadi33. Karapadrasamigal Madam Vyasarpadi34. Kasi Viswanathasamy St. Thomas Mount35. Chengaluneer Pillaiyar Mannady36. Karungaleeswarar Koyambedu


CPREEC has documented about 50 templetanks in Chennai city (Source: TempleTanks of Chennai city, 2004). There willbe more than 250 temple tanks if theproposed Chennai Metropolitan Area isformed comprising of Chennai,Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur and parts ofVellore districts. The exact number ofsmall lakes and ponds in the proposedChennai Metropolitan Area is not known.

Suggested measures to be taken up forthe conservation and protection of thewater resources of Chennai

The expansion of Chennai city will directlyhave an impact on the water resourcesdue to urbanization which leads to highpopulation density, industrialization, etc.Already, the present city is facing acutewater shortage, ground water depletion,sea water intrusion in the coastal areas,encroachment of tanks and eris forhousing, office complexes and garbagedisposal yard. Moreover, the agriculturalland in the proposed ChennaiMetropolitan Area will also get convertedfor developmental activities such as

human settlement, special economiczones, etc.

The major rivers of the proposed ChennaiMetropolitan Area serving as waterresources to the Chennai city will be thePalar, Kosasthalaiyar and Araniyar whilethe Cooum and Adyar have been pollutedto a greater extent. The Cheyyar – Kiliyarsub basin will also serve as an additionalwater resource.

The protection of catchment area, waterspread area is very essential foraugmenting the drinking water needs,other domestic and industrial needs. Atpresent, the State Government is providingdrinking water from the tanks supportedby the various river basins apart fromthe desalination plant near Chennai.Moreover, Chennai city is also gettingwater from the Krishna river and Veeranamtank. Many of the industrial needs arefulfilled by utilizing the salt water, groundwater and recycled water.

The study made by the MIDS using theGIS technique, provides the distribution


of the major tanks in the districts ofKanchipuram, Thiruvallur and part ofVellore. The baseline data needs to bestrengthened by further environmentalstudies. This will help in the long termconservation of water resources.

The role of college students in waterconservationThere are about 200 colleges comprisingof engineering, arts and science, medical,para medical, teacher training institutes,polytechnics, in the districts of Chennai,Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur and Vellore.As part of the curriculum and projectwork, students may be involved indocumenting, monitoring and studyingthe water quality of rivers. Presently,the water quality of selected tanks isbeing monitored by the Public WorksDepartment under IAMWARM Project.The periodicity of monitoring iscomparatively low. Involvement ofstudents will be a fruitful venture.Engineering Colleges may be assignedto map the temple tanks and otherirrigation tanks. The EnvironmentalEngineering Department and the Arts& Science Colleges may be involved inpreparing the biodiversity registers andmonitoring the water quality. Thestudents of other disciplines may beassigned to document the historical andsocial aspects of the water bodies. All thestudents may be involved in maintainingthe rainwater harvesting structures intheir colleges, other government andpublic buildings in their neighbourhoodand also the desilting and maintenanceof canals that link the temple tanks.

The role of school students in waterconservation

There are about 600 schools underNational Green Corps of the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, Government ofIndia and about 600 schools under Eco

clubs of the Government of Tamilnadu.These students may be involved in waterquality monitoring of temple tanks andother water bodies and to increase theawareness level on water conservationamong the public and observe thefollowing environmental days:

❖ Observing Wetland Day❖ Observing Water Day❖ Observing International Day for

Biological Diversity❖ Observing World Environment Day❖ Observing Wildlife Week

The role of community in waterconservationLake Protection and MonitoringCommittees may be formed by the PublicWorks Department (PWD), Government ofTamilnadu involving the local communityaround the water body to protect it fromnot letting out the sewage and dumpinggarbage.

The Public Works Department (PWD),Government of Tamilnadu may bring outan Atlas on the available irrigation tanks.The Hindu Religious & CharitableEndowment Department (HR&CE),Government of Tamilnadu may alsoprovide the list of tanks under theirmaintenance. Restoration of templetanks may also be entrusted withCorporates as part of their CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) initiative.

The Government of Tamilnadu hasproposed to clean up the rivers andcanals flowing through Chennai citythrough the Chennai Rivers RestorationTrust (CRRT). In order to protect thetanks, the trust may also take upconservation and restoration of lakes.All these measures will go a long wayin improving the water resourcesmanagement of the ChennaiMetropolitan Area.


River Cooum : A Boon or Bane to ChennaiM. Lakshmi Sree

If anyone thinks of Chennai – theyimmediately associate it with the Marinabeach, the famous Kapaleeswarar temple,the Santhome Basilica, the aroma offilter coffee, Madras Tamil (the slang), thegraffiti of the heroes of Kollywood, thespeeding electric trains, the frequenttraffic snarls due to Metro Rail work, etc.and last, but not the least, the everstinking Cooum river which welcomesa train passenger coming to the cityfrom any part of the country – east, west,north or south. Even passengers flyingin get an aerial glimpse of the Cooumminus the stench!!!!!

The Cooum is presently a polluted riverspoiled by filth and pollution. In earlierdays, the river was very clean and wascalled as the Triplicane river. It wasused as an inland waterway to transportgoods for maritime trade to the RomanEmpire and Sri Lanka. The river’sproximity to the ancient port city ofManarpha or Mylapore was very vital totrade. Roman merchants came to buyIndian textiles, gemstones and spices inexchange for gold, silver, copper andquality wine. Archaeologists havediscovered ancient wine jars, Romanand Chinese coins on the banks of theCooum. In ancient days, the Cooum river

and the nearby Elambore river (North River)which flows into the Cooum at its mouthwere running very close opposite to thepresent Central Station and inundated thewhole area during floods. During 1700, thetwo rivers were linked by a cut to equalizethe floods and a bridge was constructedin 1710 across the cut bridging the rivers.In the late 18th century, a renownedphilanthropist – Pachaiyappa Mudaliar hadbathed in the river before offering prayersat the Komaleeswaranpet Temple inChintadripet.

The Cooum river originates at a placecalled Cooum – near Kesavaram anicut inThiruvallur district and drains into theBay of Bengal. The Cooum receives waterfrom the Kosasthalaiyar basin by theKesavaram anicut diversion and the oldBangaru channel in the upstream. Theanicut at Korattur on the Cooum and newBangaru channel takes off on the rightbank to feed the ChembarambakkamLake in the Adyar basin which suppliesdrinking water to the people of Chennaiapart from the Poondi, Red Hills andCholavaram reservoirs of theKosasthaliyar basin and Porur reservoirsof the Adyar basin. There is very littleflow in the Cooum river as it approachesChennai city.

Total length of the River - 65.00 KmCity limit of the River - 17.98 KmCatchment Area - 139.8 Sq. KmMaximum Flood Discharge - 19000 Cusecs



Flowing through Poonamalle, the riverenters Chennai district at Arumbakkam.The river flows through the threecorporation zones of Kilpauk, Nungam-bakkam and Triplicane. The majorresidential areas covered by the river areChoolaimedu, Chetpet, Egmore andChintadripet. The river splits into twonear Chintadripet and again joins atNapier bridge forming the Island Groundswhich is a major islet. The mouth of theCooum river is not too wide. The rivermouth has groynes running to a totallength of nearly 250 m. The openingbetween the groynes is about 170 m tofacilitate tidal action and the impact ofhigh tide bringing in sea water is felt fornearly 3 km in the river. The river isperiodically cleaned to prevent sanddeposits near the river mouth very closeto the Napier Bridge and the sand isremoved at frequent intervals to facilitatetidal action and to avoid flooding. About80,000 cubic metres of sand were removedin 2010 – 2011.

Once a fishing river, it has borne thebrunt of the city’s unplanned expansion.In 1950, the river housed 49 species offish which came down to 21 by the late1970s. Today, there are no fish due tohigh toxic pollutants in the river. Thewater quality is highly toxic andcompletely non-potable. The water hasalmost no dissolved oxygen and hassewage and sludge in plenty.

The river Cooum was once a fresh watersource but today it has become a drainagecourse inside Chennai city, collectingsurpluses of 75 small tanks of a minorbasin. The river is narrow, placid andmeandering. There are more than 9000families living along the river in additionto 450 shops and business establishmentor commercial buildings, invariablypolluting the river. There are about 700odd points in the river bank letting sewagedirectly into the river. Out of the identified127 sewage outfalls into the river, 85 arestill in use. The majority of the outfallsare located between Aminjikarai andNungambakkam in Chennai city. It is alsostated that nearly 30% of the estimated55 million litres of untreated sewage is letinto the Cooum river. In Maduravoyal, itis estimated that more than 7 tonnes ofmunicipal solid waste is dumped into theriver every day.

Industries let out effluents directly intothe nearby drains reaching the river orsupply channels of tanks, thus leadingto water pollution. Even though majorindustries on the sub-basin have set uptreatment plants, the field in and aroundthe sub-basin has been polluted by thetreated effluents disposed by theseindustries.

The classification of industries on theriver basin is given below:

Classification / Category Large Medium Small

Red 32 24 223Orange 87 124 331

Green 7 22 37



The Corporation of Chennai maintains13 bridges on the river. The major bridgeson the river excluding small bridges are:

❏ Napier Bridge❏ Wallajah Bridge❏ Periamet Bridge❏ Chintradripet Bridge or St.Andrew’s

Bridge❏ Harris Bridge❏ Commander-in-Chief Road Bridge❏ College Road Bridge❏ Spur Tank Bridge and❏ Aminjikarai Bridge

A new bridge across the Cooum connectingGolden George Nagar in Mogappair withNerkundram is being constructed bythe State Highways Department. It is a10 span bridge measuring about 110 mlong and nearly 24 m wide, accommodatingsix-lane traffic, with space provisions forbicycles and pedestrians.

Aquatic weeds Kadal palai (Ipomoea) arefound in 80% of the tanks in the sub-basin restricting the water storage andloss in capacity of the tanks.

Another major threat to the river basin isillegal sand mining which has increasedalarmingly of late. Excess quarrying ofsand from the Cooum river near A.N.Kuppam anicut had resulted in washingaway of the anicut portion. The causewaynear Thiruvallur Railway station acrossthe Cooum, the Karanodai Bridge acrossKosathalaiyar on the Chennai – Kolkatahighway and the Tamaraipakkamanicut were affected due to excess sandquarrying.

Sea water has intruded at many placeswhich have resulted in the loss of soilfertility for cropping. The areas in theMinjur belt and over 10000 ha. land inGummidipoondi, Cholavaram and Ponneriblocks are affected by salt water intrusion.The intense use of surface water foragricultural purposes upstream and thepumping of ground water have led to thereduction in base flow of the Cooum river.The other reasons for the polluted Cooum

are formation of sand bars at the mouth,discharge of untreated sewage, industrialeffluents and encroachments along thebanks of the river downstream whichhas been severely polluted.

Due to contamination of drinking waterpeople suffer. People living along the riverbasin suffer from acute diarrhoea. Theother major diseases are dysentery andjaundice. This is especially so during therainy season.

The Government of Tamilnadu hasconstituted the Chennai RiversRestoration Trust (CRRT) which has takenup a detailed study to clean the Cooumcauseway. It will submit its findings byNovember 2013 to the State government.The government has proposed to cleanthe river between Paruthipattu anicutnear Avadi and the river mouth laterthis year. The State government hassought a coordinated approach withvarious departments to reduce pollutionin the river and to prevent dumping ofsolid waste and closing the sewer linesthat flow into the river. Mangroveplantations will be carried out in theCooum estuary near the Island groundsto minimize pollution and to restorebiodiversity. In the long run, the stategovernment has also planned toestablish parks and waterways in theurbanized stretches. It was also reportedrecently that it is proposed to increasethe tree cover of Chennai city to 33.3%by planting palmyra trees along thebanks of the Cooum.


Chennai’s Wetlands: A Shrinking NaturalHeritageM. Amirthalingam

The history of the region where themodern city of Chennai now stands goesback to the ancient period. However, theorigin of the present city goes back toonly about 372 years. Chennai city istoday the fourth largest metropolitancity in the country. It comprises of therevenue district of Chennai along withthe adjoining portions of Kanchipuramand Tiruvallur district. It occupies anarea of about 1,189 square kilometres. In1639 AD, the English East India Companywas on the lookout for a suitable strip ofland on which to construct a fort and afactory. They made a reconnaissance ofthe coast and finally decided upon apiece of land between the Coovam andthe Elumur River which enter the sea. Thearea was then ruled by Peda VenkataRaya, Raja of Chandragiri – Vellore whowas the descendant of the famous Rajasof Vijayanagar. They accordingly enteredinto a lease agreement with the Rajaand established a settlement therewhich was subsequently named asMadrasapatanam.

The area of the settlement wasapproximately 14 kms long and 4-6 kmbroad. It was mainly agricultural innature and irrigated by large tanks. Infact, the old British maps show the areaalmost entirely occupied by tanks andponds which have disappeared todaydue to developmental activities evenduring the colonial period.

Wetlands can be defined as pieces ofland that are inundated or saturated by

ground water to a sufficient level so as tosupport vegetation that can grow insuch a type of soil. It includes marshes,swamps, jheels, lakes, peat lands, wetmeadows and estuaries (World Wide Fund-India, 1987). Wetlands are the home ofvaried and endangered living organisms.They also act as a natural drain and amajor source of groundwater recharge.They are helpful in charging the aquifersof the region and are home to diverseand fragile living organisms. They areinstrumental in checking floods,preventing coastal erosion and minimisingthe effect of cyclones. They can serve asreservoirs of water and are the naturalhabitat for various species of birds andanimals.

These tanks were mainly irrigated bythe monsoons and dried up in summer.The local people use these tanks as theirmain source of water supply. However,over the years the upkeep of these tankshas been neglected and they were soonfilled with garbage and waste material.Cattle were being washed in them andthe surroundings of the tanks were beingused as an open toilet. Hence, they soonbecame a health hazard. In addition, theunplanned and rapid urbanization ledto the further degradation of thesetanks and, in some cases, led to theirdisappearance.

There are about 3000 tanks and pondsbig and small in the Chennai area. Someof the important tanks are Madipakkam,Velachery, Thoraipakkam, Pallavaram,


Madambakkam, Maraimalainagar,Kilkattalai, Pallikaranai, Adhambakkam,Puzhudhivakkam, Thalakanancheri,Kovilambakkam, Chitlapakkam andso on. These tanks can be classified asendangered.

The problem has been furthercompounded by the nexus between thepolitical parties and the land developers.These two interest groups haveconnived to grab vast tracts of valuableland and have begun constructing flats,complexes, colleges, concrete roads,over-bridges, railway tracks, etc. Anotherfactor that has led to the degradation ofthese tanks has been the illegaloccupation by squatters and thehomeless poor. Due to these factors thenatural drainage systems by inlet andoutlet of the tanks or lakes have been

completely destroyed, thus resulting inwater logging during the monsoon.

These developmental activities whichhave been undertaken without takinginto consideration the natural drainagefactors have resulted in the blocking upof the natural outlet of the water bodies.The net result is that the natural runoffwater gets blocked thus resulting infloods in the area. A good example is thatof the Velacherry – Madipakkam -Nanganallur belt which the scene offloods every year.

It is estimated that about two decadesago that there were 650 water bodiesexisting in the Chennai region. Abouthalf-of them were located south of theAdyar River. Out of the total of 1,130hectares of water bodies only about 645



hectares now exist. This has adverselyaffected the water storage capacity ofthe Chennai region. The situation hasreached such a pass that it is officiallyestimated that only 19 out of the 29existing water bodies can be restored.Other water bodies such as Ullagaram,Adambakkam, Thalakanacheri, Mogappairand Senneerkuppam are consideredbeyond restoration. In the case of waterchannels like inlet and outlet they havecompletely disappeared (Srivathsan andLakshmi, 2013).

Several examples can be cited tosubstantiate the destruction of waterbodies. For example, the AdambakkamLake is being closed due to the MetroRail work and a concretised road leadingfrom Velachery to GST Road is beingbuilt. Similarly, Madipakkam Lake hasbecome a dumping yard for garbage andthe water is not fit for any use. And onthe other side construction of buildings isgoing on apace. Another instance that canbe cited is that of the PuzhudhivakkamLake which was once an importantreservoir and used to host a number ofrare birds. This valuable natural resourcehas now been gradually converted into ahousing colony. Inundation inPuzhudhivakkam and Madipakkam iscaused by the disappearance of theVeerangal Odai which connects theAdambakkam and the Pallikaranaimarsh.

According to Water Resource Department(WRD), only 19 of the 29 important waterbodies in Chennai region can be revived.Other water bodies such as Ullagaram,Adambakkam, Thalakanacheri are beyondredemption. The situation in the case oflost water channels is even worse sincethey have entirely disappeared.

Chitlapakkam Lake was once the watersource for the Sembakkam andHastinapuram villages. The total area of

this lake is 86.86 acres which hassubsequently shrunk to 47 acres due toencroachments such as the developmentof the district court, bus terminal and theTambaram taluk office. This lake isgetting water through 3 channels fromthe foothills. However, in this region thewater table level is higher than in otherareas. This lake is further contaminatedby household sewage and waste fromcommercial establishments.

Conclusion

It is clear that the major challenge to thesurvival of these wetlands comes fromfactors such as the pressure of humanpopulation, unplanned urbanisation,industrialization, developmental activitiessuch as dumping of solid waste,discharging sewage and encroachments.It is extremely essential that thegovernment should draw up an immediateurban renewal programme incorporatingsuch factors such as encroachment,development of illegal housing coloniesand dumping of solid waste and pollutionfrom domestic cum industrial sources.Besides this, a vital role can be played byNGOs, naturalists and concerned publicin increasing awareness of the importanceof preserving the existing wetlands ofgreater Chennai.

Reference

1. “Wetlands status and Managementin India - An Overview”, World WideFund-India, p. 4, 1987.

2. Anonymous, Directory of Wetlands inIndia, Ministry of Environment andForests, New Delhi, 1988.

3. “Indian wetlands in conservation list”,The Hindu, December 25, 2002.

4. Srivathsan, A. and K. Lakshmi,“Chennai’s vanishing water bodies”,The Hindu, June 6, 2013.


Life Forms of Park FloraP. Sudhakar

A park is usually characterised by thepresence of trees useful for variouspurposes such as avenues, specimentrees or for aesthetic purposes and forproviding shade. The park flora isdominated by trees. Flora of Chennai parkscomprises of 40% of trees.

Some of the most common trees includeAzadirachta indica, Delonix regia,Guazuma ulmifolia, Millingtonia hortensis,Peltophorum pterocarpum, Polyalthialongifolia, Pongamia pinnata, Samaneasaman, Tabebuia rosea and Terminaliacatappa.

Herbs represent 28% of the flora ofChennai parks which include bothplants of ornamental value as well asweeds. Some of the common herbs areAcalypha indica, Acalypha wilkesiana,Achyranthes aspera, Aerva lanata,Alternanthera betzickiana, Catharanthusroseus, Cleome viscosa, Evolvulusalsinoides, Gomphrena serrata,Sphagneticola trilobata and Tridaxprocumbens.

Shrubs have a unique place in parks ashedges or as ornamental bushes ortopiary plants. 20% of the total plants ofthe Chennai parks are shrubs. Thepredominant shrub that is used as ahedge is Clerodendrum inerme. Thisshrub is preferred for its hardiness, forits amenability for pruning and for itsunpalatability for cattle.

Trees of Rare Occurrence

A number of plants are restricted to oneor two parks in their occurrence. Many of

these trees are also of rare occurrence inthe entire flora of Chennai and itsneighbourhood (Livingstone & Henry,1994). They include Ailanthus excelsa,Barringtonia acutangula, Berrya cordifolia,Caesalpinia ferrea, Citrus limon, Clusiarosea, Corypha macropoda, Cratevaadansonii ssp. odora, Eucalyptustorelliana, Guaicum officinale, Huracrepitans, Putranjiva roxburghii, Saracaasoca and Strychnos nux-vomica. Thesetrees arouse interest due to their form,flowers, rarity and uses.

Caesalpinia ferrea is a species of rareoccurrence and its auto-graftingphenomenon along with aestheticpatterns of bark calls for attention.

Some of the rare trees of park seem tohave been a part of the natural landscapeand can be called remnants of pastvegetation. Barringtonia acutangula, asemi-aquatic tree is located in threeparks, all of which are adjacent to waterbodies, though at present these parks aredistanced from the water bodies. BothNatesan Park and Nageswara Rao Park


were originally lakes which were eventuallyfilled and converted into parks. Both theseparks harbour Barringtonia acutangulaas well as Borassus flabellifer as aremnant species.

Trees of Common OccurrenceA number of trees are common to twothirds of the parks. They include bothornamental and other species. Many ofthese trees are also the commonest treesof Chennai (Sudhakar, 1991; Narasimhan& Pauline, 2010). They includeAzadirachta indica, Cassia fistula,Delonix regia, Ficus benjamina, Guazumaulmifolia, Millingtonia hortensis,Peltophorum pterocarpum, Polyalthialongifolia, Pisonia alba, Pongamia pinnata,Samanea saman, Tabebuia rosea andTerminalia catappa.

The majority of these trees are wellstocked in the nurseries of the forestdepartment and other commercialhorticultural establishments. Hencedistribution and planting of these trees ischeaper and convenient for landscapersas well as other promoters of parks andgardens. This explains the abundance ofthese trees in many of the parks.

The entire Chennai flora is dominated byfour or five trees, namely, Delonix regia,Polyalthia longifolia, Peltophorumpterocarpum, Samanea saman andTerminalia catappa. Apart from the easyavailability of planting material, the highsurvival rate of these trees is anotherreason for their preference and spread.Many of these species are quite hardy,salty and drought tolerant as well as theyare able to withstand cyclones.

Weed Flora of the ParksAny human interfered ecosystempromotes the growth of herbaceousweeds that are mostly heliophyllous.Weeds of agro-ecosystem have been wellstudied (Mani et. al. 1968; Ranjit,

Rajbhandari, 1998). Similarly, weeds oflawns have also been extensivelydocumented. These include both nativeand naturalised species. The majority ofthe weed flora colonise in open places.Some of the native species of weedsinclude Acalypha indica, Achyranthesaspera, Aerva lanata, Aristida setacea,Blepharis repens, Cleome viscosa,Crotalaria medicaginea, Evolvulusalsinoides, Hybanthes enneaspermus,Indigofera linnaei and Leucas indica.Notable naturalised alien weeds includeAgeratum conyzoides, Amaranthusspinosus, Argemone mexicana, Euphorbiacyathophora, Hyptis suaveolens, Mimosapudica, Parthenium hysterophorus,Passiflora foetida and Tridaxprocumbens.

A few cultivars of Lantana are grown ina few parks for ornamental purposes.However, a wild form of Lantana camaraalso occurs as a naturalised weed in manyparks. Many of the naturalised weeds havealready either turned invasive or have thepotential to turn invasive (Narasimhan et.al. 2009). Many of the plants that occuras weeds have medicinal properties andare referred to in medical texts of bothAyurveda and Siddha systems (http://tnenvis.nic.in). In fact, the local people insome areas do harvest these weeds formedicinal purposes.

Two weeds that are commonly harvestedby the local people are Acalypha indicaand Phyllanthus amarus. Some of theplants that were introduced asornamentals have turned invasive inseveral parts of India. Sphagneticolatrilobata is a recent example of suchspecies that is spreading quite fast inshady and moist places.

The parks of Chennai do not have largesprawling lawns due to space constraints.Hence, lawns always occur as smallpatches that result in a less number of


weeds. The lawns of Chennai parks aredominated by Cynodon dactylon as alawn grass which is a dense mat forminggrass. The weeds of these lawns have othergrass species that include Brachiariamutica, Dactyloctenium egyptium andEragrostis tenella.

Reference❖ Livingstone, C. and A.N. Henry, 1994.

Revised Edition: The Flowering Plantsof Madras City and its ImmediateNeighbourhood. Government Press.Madras.

❖ Mani,V.S., K.C. Gautham, and T.K.Chakraberty, 1968. Losses in cropyield due to weed growth, PANS, 42:142 – 158.

❖ Narasimhan, D., W. Arisdason, SheebaJ Irwin and G. Gnanasekaran, 2009.Invasive Alien Plant Species of Tamil

Nadu. Proc. Natl. Sem. Invasive AlienSpecies. ENVIS Centre, Dept. ofEnvironment, Govt. of Tamil Nadu,Chennai. pp. 29 – 38.

❖ Narasimhan, D. and R. Pauline, 2010.Common Trees of Chennai a PhotoIdentification Guide. ForestDepartment Government of Tamilnadu.

❖ Ranjith, J.D. 1998. Weeds and weedmanagement in the Rice-wheat system.In: Proc. of the Rice-Wheat ResearchWorkshop. (Eds.) Hobbs, P.R. and N.PRajbhandari. Nepal AgriculturalResearch Council (NARC), pp.13 – 22,International Maize and WheatImprovement Centre (CIMMYT) andRice-Wheat System ResearchConsortium, Kathmandu.

❖ Sudhakar, P. 1991. Trees of Madras.C.P.R. Environmental EducationCentre. Chennai.

Banagudi SholaM. Kumaravelu

It is the well known fact that the hillyNilgiris, especially the central and westernparts of the Nilgiris, received perfectsouth-west monsoon rains after nearlyfive years. That of course made thepeople, particularly the new and younggenerations, take lessons on theclimatology of the Nilgiris, a biospherehotspot of the globe.

This phenomenon triggered aninterest among the public as to theimportance of the interlinked tripleecosystem of the Nilgiris, namely thesholas, grasslands and swamps in the

higher altitude of the Western Ghats. Asthese three types of vegetation have acapacity for water holding, checking soilerosion and watershed regulations theseaspects need to be studied in detail.

It is needless to mention that this uniquetriple-tier ecosystem is well protectedwithin the reserve forests. Both thegovernment and NGOs are doing theirutmost to reclaim the grasslands andswamps where they been lost or eroded.This is done by taking steps to removethe exotic plants like wattle, eucalyptusand pine forests. The forest department


is planning strategies to reintroduce theShola species and native grass species.

Apart from the well protected areas, a fewshola grass land and wetland ecosystemare found elsewhere in the Nilgiris. Theseparticular areas are being protected assacred by the by the local people. Theseare called sacred groves. A sacred groveor sacred woods are any grove of treesof special religious importance to aparticular culture. These sacred grovesstand as an important reserve ofbiodiversity. In sacred groves, one or moreplant species or animal species arebeing protected and worshipped. Thepeople living nearby these groves dobelieve that these groves are the abodeof the spirits of their ancestors.

Banagudi Shola

Banagudi shola, a sacred grove, is locatedon the eastern slope of the Nilgiris inKotagiri Taluk between an altitude of1200m and 1800m. This Banagudi sholais denoted as a sub-montane type offorest. A committee has been formedcomprising of the locals, to assist theForest Department in conserving thisshola forest as also a Longwood sholanear Kotagiri town. The major functionsof this committee are to organize eco-camps for tourists, students and thelocal people and to educate them on theimportance of the shola. In addition, this

committee assists the Forest Departmentin removing the exotic plant species suchas lantana, wattle and eucalyptus andScotch broom.

Ecology of Banagudi Shola

Banagudi Shola is spread over 22.5hectares with evergreen plant speciesand encompasses 2 wet lands. Theperennial water resource from thisarea supplies water to more than 500families. Floral wealth is very high; around 27 dominated tree species havebeen identified. Around 95 species ofbirds, 14 species of reptiles, 19 species ofmammals have been recorded by theBanagudi watch dog committee.

Cultural and spiritual values

In general, the mountains, rivers,grasslands and water bodies are beingworshiped by the indigenous people. TheToda tribes in particular view thegrasslands as a holy place. They dependon it for grazing their buffaloes and theyalso believe that it is the place where thespirits of their ancestors live.

The Banagudi Shola was identified bythe Department of Archaeology as aPre-historic site. The Hero stone with 5tier depictions on the orthostatic dolmanslabs are located in the middle of thisShola. There are seven dolmans ofwhich two dolmans stone slabs wereutilized for erecting Hero stones. TheKurumba village named Banagudi islocated adjacent to this shola path. TheKurumba tribes worship these Herostones as well as the sholas as sacred.They worship the Hero stones asPandava Gudi (Pandavar temple) andMaa linga along with the surroundinggrove. Besides, the Kurumba tribesbelieve that Thoddadeva (Head deity)lives in the Shola. During December/January of every year a festival ofsowing and during July of every year


festival of harvesting is being celebratedhere. The cereals collected from the forestand agriculture lands are offered to thedeity. These festivals are being performednear the stone circle (Pre-historic site)which is located in the western part of theshola. It is pertinent to note that theBadaga community (Harigiri clan) fromSakatha village is involved in performingrituals in which the Kurumba tribes alsojoins.

Despite tremendous pressure on theforest resources, the sacred groves arebeing protected in many places defyingthe challenges and other biotic pressures.Changing land use patterns havecontributed to a degradation of theseprecious forests. In many sacred grovesgathering of minor forest produce,hunting and cultivation are strictlyprohibited. A few plant species are beingused for medicinal purposes. Due totaboos, codes and customs and theinvolvement of the local people, it is notan exaggeration to say that the Banagudiis being protected well today.

In the Nilgiris, during the 1960s, theintroduction of cash crops, particularly

tea, resulted in many sacred groves beingdegraded and thus becoming restricted toa very small patch. The local communitiesand nature lovers are determined to retainthe sacred groves because the groves areoften as vulnerable to outside political andeconomic forces as other forest areas. Inmost cases the groves are being protectedby the local communities because oftheir religious beliefs rather than fortheir resources.

Reference

1. Hockigns Paul, 1989. Blue Mountains,Oxford University Press, Delhi.

2. A Complementary contribution toGlobal Biodiversity Assessment,United Nations EnvironmentProgramme, 1999.

3. Kumaravelu M. 2010. Hero Stones inthe sacred groves of the Nilgiris, EcoNews, vol.16, No.3.

Acknowledgement

I express my sincere thanks toMr. Boopathy of Sakatha village for hisvaluable support in studying BanagudiShola.

ECONEWS welcomes articles and news items from its readers. Please send them to

The EditorC.P.R. Environmental Education Centre

1, Eldams Road, Alwarpet, Chennai – 600 018, India.Phone : 91-44-24337023 / 24346526 Fax : 91-44-24320756

www.cpreec.org / www.cpreecenvis.nic.inEmail: [email protected] / [email protected]


Geo-engineeringU. Thirunavukkarasu

Geo-engineering is the study, design andapplication of human interventions inaltering geological surface resources inmining, excavations, undergroundtransportations, ground water flow,energy and other infrastructuralalterations involving surface resources.

Recently zgeo-engineering was highlyassociated with the climate engineeringaspect. It includes wide range oftechnologies which aims to modify theearth’s energy balance and to reduceatmospheric temperature in response togrowing climate change concerns.

Conception about Nature

People in different cultures conceivenature in different perspectives. Thealteration in the natural setting byhuman being starts from the very firstexperiment on ‘growing food’ upto ‘alteringglobal climate’. There was a time, wherethe maximum control over the resourceswas in agriculture; later it turns out in todigging out water, minerals, metals andaltering the course of water bodies. Theway that people have imagined aboutnature has changed dramatically overthe years of human existence (Williams1972). In the same way, the humancommunity has also responded to theimpacts of human-nature interactionsover many millennia. In the recent past,there are many responses to such eventscreated by human beings.

The Political divide

The climate engineering technologiesunder the border perspective of geo -engineering technologies proposed aremostly scientifically unproven and theeffects of it on the global climate are notproved beyond doubt. Many technologiesproposed are available in the tracts ofresearch or scientific validation.

The proposed Carbon Dioxide Removaland Solar Radiation Management arecross boundary in nature both politicallyand socially. In the context of IPCCprojections and climate negotiationsgoing on around the world, there isalready a wide gap in agreement andopinions between developing anddeveloped countries. Thus, it is unlikelythat climate engineering efforts willreach a consensus amongst the variouscountries.

The climate-engineering technologiesare principally divided into two categories,viz., the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)and Solar Radiation Management (SRM).It may range from planting trees tosequestrating carbon or deflecting solarradiation by pumping aerosols in theupper atmosphere. The technologicalcomplexity, social implication, economicresources needed and socio-politicalapproval are deciding factors in thedevelopment of geo-engineering inreducing the impact of climate change.


Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

The carbon dioxide removal methodoperates in the principle of removing

atmospheric green house gas -carbondioxide and storing it. This uptake and

storage may happen by biological, chemicalor physical means. The CDR methods are

many, ranging from afforestration, oceanfertilization to weathering of certain

sedimentary rocks.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)

The carbon capture and sequestrationtechnologies remove carbon directly from

the anthropogenic sources ratherremoving it from the atmosphere. The

sources followed up are biomass, bio-energy and fossil fuels in power

generation. There are divided opinionsto exclude fossil fuels from geo-

engineering- CCS since they are carbonpositive and bio-energy and biomass

are considered as carbon neutral.

Ocean Fertilization

The ocean fertilization technique usesthe biological power of phyto-planktons to

take in and use atmospheric carbondioxide in the process of photosynthesis,

thus retaining it in the bio system and tobe deposited on the ocean floors when

the phyto-plankton dies. To promote this,ocean fertilization involves addition of

nutrients such as iron to the oceansurface to promote plaktonic growth.

The effects of ocean fertilization on themarine ecosystem, long term effect of it

and the acidification of ocean waters aresome of the concerns raised by scientists.

However, developed countries are alsoeyeing the possibility of using this

technique as way for gaining ‘carboncredits’.

Afforestation

Afforestation is the well known andaccepted way of carbon sequestrationunder clean development mechanism.This method involves planting andgrowing of tree saplings on the landwhich is without tree cover for severalyears/ a decade or more. Afforestationhas advantages, the carbon storingcapacity is more in forest communitiesand carbon is stored for a longer periodand it has other ecological benefits too.On the negative side, afforestation toohas hurdles and concerns; the willingnessof private land holders, conversion of landuse pattern, requirement of food versesafforestation and accidental release ofcaptured carbon are some of them.

Enhance Weathering

The natural process of weathering ofsilicate and carbonate rocks is expeditedand carbon removal from the atmosphereis achieved. The weathered rocks arestored in the soil and the deep ocean ascaptured carbon storage. Mining forcarbonate and silicate rocks, spreadingout in the landscape, transportation,involvement of other environmentalresources like energy and water arespecific concerns which require scientificvalidation in proving this method as aprobable technique to be used in climateengineering.

Solar Radiation Management

The solar radiation management methodinvolves reduction or diversion of incomingsolar radiation by making earth surface oratmosphere more reflective. Unfortunately,this method is not to have any alteringeffect on green house gas emission orsequestration of it. Some of the SolarRadiation Management methods are land


based desert reflectors, cloud-basedcloud whitening, stratosphere basedaerosol injection and space based shields.

Enhanced Albedo

Reflecting the incoming solar radiation isthought to reduce the increasingtemperature. Making the earth surfacemore reflective by making urbanlandscapes and structural roofswhitened, and enhancing the reflectivesurfaces are some methods by whichthe albedo effect is enhanced.

Cloud whitening is a process by which thecloud-condensation nuclei such as smallparticles of sea salt are dispersed to adesired level on the clouds by airbornemachines or craft.

The incoming solar radiation is reflectedback at the stratosphere level by injectingaerosols such as hydrogen sulfide orsulfur dioxide.

Space based reflectors were also thoughtof as a measure to reflect back incomingsolar radiation. But the location, materialand maintenance are questions to beanswered by further research andinnovation.

However, the solar radiation managementtechnologies in theoretical form appearnovel but it has many complications.Changes in regional climate or seasonmay happen due to intervention in solarradiation. It may also have widerramifications on the ecology of manyregions- affecting food and the livelihoodsecurity of people. The dispersed aerosols

may interfere/destroy protective ozonelayer in the longer run.

In short, the interventional effect on solarradiation may have multiple effects onthe biosphere and the snowballingeffect of the entire technology is highlydiscouraging. Solar Radiation Managementmay appear attractive since we stillcontinue to release carbon through manyconsumerist human activities. But naturehas its own unique way of answering.

Leading a sustainable life style and goingalong with nature which was handed downby the earlier generations is the sensibleway to mitigate and reduce the impact ofclimate change.

Reference

1. ht tp ://en.wik iped ia .o rg/wik i/Geoengineering

2. Corner, A., et al., Corner, A., K. Parkhill,N. Pidgeon and Naomi E. Vaughan,2013, “Messing with nature? Exploringpublic perceptions of geoengineeringin the UK”, Global Environ. Change.h t t p : / / d x . d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 /j.gloenvcha.2013.06.002

3. “Geoengineering: Governance andTechnology Policy Kelsi BracmortSpecialist in Agricultural Conservationand Natural Resources Policy” RichardK. Lattanzio Analyst in EnvironmentalPolicy, January 2, 2013.

4. William, R. 1972, J. Benthall (Ed.)Ecology : the shaping enquiry,

Longman, London.


Significance of BioindicatorsR. Sabesh

Introduction

Bio indicators are living organisms whichare sensitive to environmental changesand respond clearly to such changes. Theever increasing human population,industrialisation, urbanisation andseveral other human activities haveresulted in tremendous pressure on thenatural ecosystems. This in turn hasresulted in poor environmental quality ofthe region, disappearance of severalnative species which played a vital role inthe purification of the atmosphere andlocal water bodies. In order to assess thestate of environment quality in a location,we need to develop an “early warningsystem” has to the environmentalcondition of the particular location.Some species of plants or animals areused by ecologists, for this purpose, forexample, some insects exhibit typicalresponse to the habitat destruction(Shahabuddin, 2003). Such species arecalled Bio indicator species. Indicatorspecies are sensitive to environmentalconditions and therefore can give earlywarning signals about ecosystem health.Drastic decline in the indicator speciesreflects the state of the environment,mainly the signs of air and water pollution,soil contamination and climate change orhabitat fragmentation.

Importance of Bioindicators for theEnvironmental quality assessment

Bioindicators are organisms, such aslichens, butterflies, crustaceans, birdsetc. which are used to monitor the stateof the environment. The organisms are

monitored for changes that may indicate aproblem within their ecosystem. Thesechanges can be chemical, physiological orbehavioural. Bioindicators are the relevanttool to assess the ecological health.Ecological health can be viewed in termsof ecosystems, where the structural andfunctional characteristics are maintained.Ecological health can be expanded toinclude many aspects of human health andwell-being. Each organism within anecosystem has the ability to report on thehealth of its environment. Bioindicatorsare used to detect changes in the naturalenvironment, monitor for the presence ofpollution and its effect on the ecosystemin which the organism lives, monitor theprogress of environmental clean-up andverify substances like drinking water forthe presence of contaminants.

The presence or absence of certaintypes of plant or other vegetation in anecosystem can provide importantinformation about the health of theenvironment. There are several types ofplant biomonitors, including mosses,lichens, tree bark, tree rings, leaves,bacteria, fungi etc. Masses of piscivorousmarine birds serve as bioindicators of thelocation of school of fishes. The probabilityof successful fishing and some otherfishes dwelling in deep water can bejudged from the plankton composition.Bioindicators are widely used to appraisewater purity. The suitability of water fordrinking purposes and the efficiencywith which treatment facilities areoperating can be judged from thecomposition of the aquatic flora andfauna. Various methods exist for analysing


the degree of pollution of water from theindicator organisms. Animals, plants andmicroorganisms are used in space

Table-1Common Bioindicators

S.No. Bioindicator species Indication

1 Presence of lLichens Indicates Nil or Low Air pollution2 Presence of E. Coli bacteria in Indicates that the water is polluted

water bodies with human waste.3 Aquatic plant - Water hyacinth Presence of heavy metals in the

water body4 Presence of stoneflies Indicates the abundant dissolved

oxygen in water.5 Presence of agal bloom Presence of nitrates and

phosphates in the water body6 Presence of mayfly larva Indicates clean water7 Presence of mosses Indicates acidic soil8 Presence of fishes in water body Indicates that the water has

sufficient dissolved oxygen

research as bioindicators to determine theeffect of spaceflight factors on livingorganisms.

The hardy lichens are usefulbioindicators for air pollution, mainlyoxides of nitrogen and sulphur dioxidepollutants since they derive their waterand essential nutrients mainly from theatmosphere rather than from the soil.Comparing with the physical/chemicalmonitoring, biomonitoring is lessexpensive in evaluating air pollution.Lichens can also be used to measure toxicelemental pollutants and radioactivemetals because they bind thesesubstances in their fungal threadswhere they concentrate them over time.Environmental scientists can thenevaluate this accumulation to determinethe quality of the ambient air. Thecomposition and total biomass of algalspecies in aquatic systems serves as animportant metric for organic pollutionand nutrient loading such as nitrogenand phosphorus.

An increase or decrease in animalpopulation indicates the damage to the

ecosystem caused by pollution. Forexample, if pollution causes the depletionof important food sources, animal speciesdependent upon such food sources willalso subsequently get reduced. Inaddition to monitoring the size andnumber of certain species, othermechanisms of animal indication includemonitoring the concentration of toxins inanimal tissues or monitoring the rate atwhich deformities arise in animalpopulations. Microorganisms can also beused as indicators of aquatic andterrestrial ecosystem health. As themicrobes are found in large quantities,it is easier to collect samples than otherorganisms. Some microorganisms willproduce new proteins called stressproteins when exposed to contaminantslike cadmium and benzene. These stressproteins can be used as an earlywarning system to detect high levels ofpollution. Scientists during the pasttraditionally conducted surveys anddirectly measured physical/chemical


parameters of the environment like waterpollution. However, the bioindicators usethe biological organisms to assess thecumulative impacts of both chemicalpollutants and habitat alterations over aperiod of time. Consequently, the use ofbioindicators is basically different fromclassical measures of environmentalquality and offers numerous advantages.Bioindicators add a temporal componentcorresponding to the life span or residencetime of an organism in a particular system,thus allowing the integration of current,past or future environmental conditions.In contrast, many chemical and physicalmeasurements only characterizeconditions at the time of sampling,increasing the probability of missingsporadic pulses of pollutants.

Another benefit of the use of bioindicatorsis their ability to indicate indirect bioticeffects of pollutants. This is not possiblein physical or chemical assessments.Dumping phosphorus-rich sewage into alake will adversely impact the ecosystem.Phosphorous commonly limits primaryproduction in freshwater ecosystems,therefore we may predict that elevatedphosphorus concentrations will increasethe growth and reproduction of somespecies. Chemical measurements,however, may not accurately reflect areduction in species diversity or how thegrowth and reproduction of other speciesmay decline due to competitive exclusionThus, contaminant levels at higher trophiclevels may be under represented byphysical or chemical measurements.

Conclusion

Bioindicators can be a measure and indexof measures or a model that characterizesan ecosystem or one of its criticalcomponents. The Bioindicator informationhelps us to develop strategies that willprevent or lower such environmental effectsand make various human activities moresustainable. The role of bioindicators insustainable development will help us to

ensure that industry leaves the least carbonfootprint on the environment. Bioindicatorsalso provide a range of techniques to assessthe impacts of air pollution due to sulphurand nitrogen compounds. Bioindicators arealso useful in a situation where theenvironmental parameters cannot bemeasured by physical or chemicalmethodologies. They simply complementphysical monitoring of atmosphericconcentrations and deposition and riskassessment.

References1. Hasselbach, L., Ver hoef, J.M., For,

J., Neitlich, P., Crecelius, E.,Berryman, S., Wolk, B. and T. Bohle,2005. Spatial patterns of cadmium andlead deposition on and adjacent toNational Park Service lands in thevicinity of Red Dog Mine, Alaska,Science of the Total Environment, 348,211–230.

2. Carignan, V. & M.C. Villard, 2002.Selecting indicator species to monitorecological integrity: A review.Environmental Monitoring andAssessment, 78, 45–61.

3. Iwama, G. K., Philip, T. Thomas, RobertB. Forsyth and M.M. Vijayan, 1998.Heat shock protein expression in fish,Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries,8, 35–56.

4. Miller, S. W. et al. Resistance andresilience of macro invertebrates toirrigation water withdrawals.Freshwater Biology, 52, 2494–2510(2007).

5. Rainio, J. &Niemelä, J. Ground beetles(Coleoptera: Carabidae) as bioindicators. Biodiversity andConservation12, 487–506 (2003).\

6. Shahabuddin. 2003. The Use of Insectas Forest health Bioindicator.http://w w w . i p t e k . n e t . i d / i n d /?ch=jsti&id=128.Bioindicator2_files


Plastics threats to Musi birds – Diseasespreads for Hyderabad’sKakarla Venkataratnam

Next time when you walk under the treesin Hyderabad, a piece of rubber orplastic or bone pieces or some othernon-degradable item may fall alongwith a bird dropping. And, you maywonder how such a non-degradablepiece had got mixedup with the birddropping in the air.

Cool it-don’t be bothered to find outwhere and how the mixing had takenplace. The piece you find is a part of birdexcreta.

Yes, bird dropping has plastic items,rubber pieces and other non-biodegradable items as its integral part.I found this particular feature among thebirds in the vicinity of the river Musi.

The birds are consuming things that are

not of any food value and are letting them

out as it is, as they cannot digest them.

60-65 % of bird food is plastic, rubber and

junk food: my study was confined to the

birds in the vicinity of the river Musi in

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

It is found that the birds consumewhatever they find and thus, 60-65% ofwhat they are eat contains polythene,rubber bands, bone pieces, pieces ofbirds’ feathers, wood, rice and other grassparticles which is contaminated junk andof no food value also. Over a large partof Hyderabad city, the atmosphere ishighly polluted and the birds cannotdiscriminate between polluted and goodfood. As a result, they consume heavy


metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and

other organic materials. This results in

their death. A recent study has found that

the green vegetables and rice produced

by irrigation water from the river Musi is

not fit for human consumption. The water

is contaminated with garbage, sewage,

municipal solids and other wastes. The

birds living in these circumstances

unknowingly spread a wide range of

diseases to the people of the twin cities of

Hyderabad and Secunderabad. This has

caused tremendous concern among the

scientists, ornithologists, researchers as

well as bird lovers also. In this paper, I

have presented my observations and

my research done on the subject.

During my morning walks, I found the

bird droppings containing some add

(odd) materials. I grew curious and started

collecting several samples of such

droppings. I collected nearly 200 birds

droppings from different parts of the city

around the river Musi nesting centers in

the areas starting from Vanasthali

Harini National Park, Nagole, Marutinagar,

Satyanagar, Dilsukhnagar, Salivahana-

nagar, Ramanthapur, Uppal and industrial

areas such as Amberpet, Malakpet,

Chaderghat and Afzulgunj. Among the

above samples, only 42 were deemed to

fit for analysis. The same were taken for

water analysis at the Ornithology

Department at the Dr Achrya N.G. Ranga

Agricultural University (ANGRAU),

Hyderabad and another private laboratory

along with my own study by using

beaker and apparatus. The survey began

early January 2013 and lasted till July

2013. As chemical analysis is a costly

affair, I took only water analysis.

It is estimated that there are nearly35-40 birds nesting centers. Of the 30-40of birds verities crisscrossing in and

around the Musi river, 15 are egrets. We

can see cattle egrets and white browed

wagtil. Spot billed duck, Shikra, little

cormorants ,common pea foul, Blue rock

pigeon, white cormorant, white throated

munia, black ibis, Indian common peafowl,

small green bee eater, Indian roller,

Indian pond heron, white throated

Kingfisher, Red wattled lapwing, spotted

owlet, Tickells, Starlings, blue rock pigeon,

common crow, house sparrow, Pariakite,

common swallow etc birds in and around

Hyderabad and near the river Musi.

Instead of Rodents ……

Generally, food consumed by birds

contains 80 percent rodents, insects,

amphibians, reptiles, beetles, etc. The

remaining will be locally available. Being

the capital of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad

has a population of nearly one core. As a

result, there is large scale air, water and

land pollution and contaminated water

spreads diseases in the city. The river

Musi flows through the heart of the city

and carries fully contaminated drainage

systems containing viruses and so many

wastes like municipal solids, hospital

wastes which are illegally thrown in the

river. Other bio-waste like animal & birds

carcasses is also thrown in the river.

Hence, it is impossible for these Musi

birds to get staple and good food. In the

absence of proper food, they are forced to

eat whatever is available in the vicinity.

Moreover, the city life involves a lot of

bus, train, air, other vehicular traffic.

Industries and other noise pollution also

add to the general degradation of the

environment. Some birds are also colour


blind, thus making them unaware of the

food they are consuming.

Toxins taking their lives

Due to the toxicological effects of the

river water and the food consumed by the

birds, their enzyme system gets disrupted

and they became prone to various digestive

diseases. Also, because of the presence

of pollutants in the air such as sulphur-

dioxide and sulphur-monoxide the birds

are losing their reproductive capacity.

Their lifespan has also drastically been

reduced. Thus, the population of birds in

the Hyderabad area is coming down. One

can also find the dead bodies of birds and

other animals floating in the river Musi.

The water analysis of 42 samples has

shown that there are an estimated 60%

to 65% of undigested particles in the bird

droppings. These include undigested

plastic, rubber bands, small wooden

pieces, plant cuts, bird feathers, small

pieces of bone and parts of beetle

mandibles. Thus, we can conclude that

the majority of the items consumed by the

birds consist of non-edible items. Chemical

investigations may reveal even more

stunning realities.

Zoonotic diseases & Threats

Due to the life threatening conditions faced

by the birds, the citizens of the twin cities

also face various health challenges as

these birds carry so many ornithosis /

zoonotic diseases.

Ornithological experts have concluded

that the birds are spreading / carrying

60 varieties of zoonotic diseases such

as bird flu/avianflu, Chicken gunia

(Japanese encephalasis-brain fever),

respiratory diseases like Histo plasmosis,canid diasis. Yeast, the fatal krip-toe-coc-o-sis called as fungal diseases fromdried bird’s droppings, will affect theupper track respiratory system. AllericAlveolius like allergy, parakeet dander,avian influenza (H5N1), pneumonia, rabies,ring worm and tuberculosis may spreaddue to these birds. Scientists have alsostated that the dried dropping of pigeonsis causing fungal pneumonia, candi diasis,allergies and respiratory diseases. Thecommon crows and starlings and egretsare also causing various communicablediseases which need to be furtherinvestigated.

Food habits of birds

We can divide the birds based on their food

habits. These are carnivores, omnivores,

frigivores, birds of prey, gramnivores, early

time carnivores later frigivores, etc

.Vegetarians eat food grains and fruits only.

The non-vegetarian birds can be divided into

fully dedicated non vegetarians, and those

that are partially non-vegetarians. The

generally spotted owlet, Emu, eagle, shikra

(Accipiter badius) like a lot of non-vegetarian

food. They are called birds of prey and they

also like a little bit of decayed cattle flesh.

If the cattle flesh is not available only then

will they go for hunting of chickens, common

(house) crow, little cormorant and the crow

pheasant. The Emu bird even has a chemical

digestive system that can consume rocks

and get digested. House sparrows in their

infant stage, which is up to early 15 days,

will take rodents /insects as food. Birds

which will eat only grains are called

gramnivores. Birds that eat only fruit are

called frigiviores. Birds that eat both

vegetarian and non-vegetarian food are

called omnivores.


C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre is a Centre of Excellence of the

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, established

jointly by the Ministry and the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation.

The Centre has been set up to increase consciousness and knowledge

about the environment and the major environmental problems facing the

country today. It has been conducting a variety of programmes to spread

awareness and interest among the public, including, teachers, students,

voluntary workers, educators, farmers, women and youth, on all aspects

of the environment and ecology, with the purpose of promoting

conservation of nature and natural resources.

Visit our website :

www.econewscpreec.com / www.cpreec.org / www.cpreecenvis.nic.in

Suggested remedies & actions to betaken

❖ Immediate action to control the spread

of these diseases

❖ Full scientific investigations are

needed

❖ Municipal solid wastes should be

cleaned, especially polythene covers,

rubber bands should not be mixed with

municipal solid waste.

❖ The river Musi should be cleaned up

and the previous climatic /environment

conditions should be restored.

❖ Bird nest centres should be

established where the birds will be

provided clean and wholesome food.

This will help to restore the bird

population.

❖ Bird’s medicines should be mixedwith food and kept in all the nestcenters.

❖ Ban & strictly implement the cultivationof cattle grass/vegetables /leafyvegetables within the city limits.

❖ Washing of clothes in the river Musishould also be banned.

❖ Public and other stakeholdersshould be involved in all the aboveprocesses.


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CPR Convention Centre is a new addition to Chennai. Situated amidst the lushgreen gardens of the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation’s vast campus in theheart of Chennai, it has already become one of Chennai’s leading venues forconventions and celebrations. Several conferences, business meetings, etc. havebeen conducted here in serene surroundings.

CPR Convention Centre is an excellent multipurpose center, the perfect place tohost seminars, meetings and conferences. It has a fully air-conditioned hall withmodern interiors and comprehensive meeting and banquet facilities designed toaccommodate up to 200 guests (theatre style).

Situated on the second floor, above C.P. Art Centre, Chennai’s happening place,there are levitator (lift) facilities, state of the art sound and presentation systems,excellent acoustics, projection facilities and – wonder of wonders - ample carparking.

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Documents

1 Eco News, Vol. 19, No. 2 July - September 2013 - cpreec.orgcpreec.org/pdf/Eco_News_July_Sept_2013_Vol_19_No_2.pdf · this problem. CPREEC, ... office complexes and garbage disposal