Bhavani River, Kerala

Bhavani is a river in India that flows through the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Bhavani river is a major tributary of the Kaveri River that flows through the states of  Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The river Bhavani is the second largest river flowing through Tamil Nadu and it originates from the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghat and enters Kerala’s Silent Valley, before flowing towards western Tamil Nadu.

The 217 km long river is mainly fed by the south west monsoon rains and later is is supported by the northeast monsoon as well. Majority of the water resource of the river is used for Agriculture in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala, it enters the Palakkad district between two high altitude forest ridges which are around 20 km up to Mukkali. After that it takes  a good turn in the north east direction through a 25 km long denuded catchment where the majority of the Attappady valley  is seen lying upto Koodappatti.

Rivers such as the Siruvani river and the Kodungarapallam rier that flows from the south and southeast respectively merges with the Bhavani river at Koodappatti, which is a place on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. The Bhavani river then flows back to Tamil Nadu from Kalkandiyoor.

Recently, the quality of the water in Bhavani river is something that is worrying the people depending on it. The industrial pollution has really took its toll on the Bhavani river and this is really a concerning aspect as far as the people who depend the water of this river are considered.

Kerala Government has started constructing a third dam across Kabani river. Earlier it had planned to construct various check dams across the river in Kerala, but the construction was halted due to severe protest from Tamil Nadu.