Springheads, the point where springs emerge, are to be treated carefully so that people using the waters do not cause pollution or damage.
by S. Vishwanath
This part of the beautiful Sahyadri or the Western Ghats is lush green, thanks to a long spell of rain. Talacauvery is an hour’s drive from Madikeri in Kodagu district. Here the beautiful river Cauvery rises. On the day celebrated as Sankranti, the waters appear here in a small pool. It then disappears to reappear at Bhagamandala as a stream, meeting the Kannika and the unseen Sujyoti.
What appears in Talacauvery is a spring. On the upper reaches of the hills of the Brahmagiri, rainwater infiltrates and percolates into the ground. Filling up the aquifers, it forms the groundwater in the space.
Groundwater which emerges naturally onto the surface is called a spring. As Himanshu Kulkarni, a leading hydro-geologist, would say, springs are best treated and understood as groundwater.
In India springs have long suffered neglect in terms of research. Though they have been the lifeline for many communities, especially in the hilly regions of the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, not much effort has been put in to understand and model them better. Dr. Kulkarni points out many typologies for springs. In one particular case he shows how the recharge zone, where the water enters the aquifer, is on the other side of the hill from where the spring emerges.
The traditional watershed approach would fail to recharge the aquifer of this typology of springs because it would be addressing water flows and recharge in the same side of the hill without understanding the nature of the geology at the place. Instead of a ridge to valley approach to manage water, a valley to valley approach would have to be envisaged for such spring management.’ In simple language there is a recharge zone for a spring and the spring itself is in the discharge zone. Understanding, mapping and managing recharge zones is crucial to the health of the springs. For long Indians have trekked to the source of rivers and paid homage to the life-giver. They have in actuality been worshipping springs. It is time that we understood this source of water better and managed them better. That would be water wisdom.
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source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by S. Vishwanath / November 28th, 2015
