ISBN: 978-93-5174-749-9
Goldin Quadros B Hemambika A Julffia Begam P A Azeez
Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) Anaikatty, Coimbatore - 641 108, Tamil Nadu
About ENVIS ( Environmental Information System) Environmental information plays a vital role not only in formulating environmental management policies but also in the decision making process aiming at environmental protection and improvement of environment for sustaining good quality of life for the living beings. Hence, management of environment is key component and thus plays an important role in effecting a balance between the demands and resources available for keeping the environmental quality at a satisfactory level. Realizing such need Ministry set up an Environmental Information System (ENVIS) in 1983 as a plan programme as a comprehensive network in environmental information collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination to varying users, which include decision-makers, researchers, academicians, policy planners and research scientists, etc. ENVIS was conceived as a distributed information network with the subject-specific centers to carry out the mandates and to provide the relevant and timely information to all concerned. The ENVIS Centre was established at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) in the year 2004. The centre collects, collates, disseminates information on various facets of Wetland Ecosystems including Inland wetlands. The publication can be reproduced for educational and non commercial purpose without prior permission, provided the source is fully acknowledged. Citation: Goldin Quadros, Hemambika B, Julffia Begam A and Azeez P A (2014) Lakes of Coimbatore City, ENVIS Publication. pp. 43. First Edition 2014 E-ISBN:978-93-5174-750-5 PB ISBN: 978-93-5174-749-9 For further Information, contact: E-mail:
[email protected];
[email protected] Website: www.saconenvis.nic.in; www.sacon.in Layout and design by: Julffia Begam A Photo Credits: Goldin Quadros Hemambika B Kirubhanadhini V Mahendiran M Malvika Puntembekar Mohamed Samsoor Ali A RajaMamannan M A Rajan Pilakandy Rajeshkumar N Shanthakumar S B Sharadha B Suhirtha Muhil M
Lakes of Coimbatore City
Goldin Quadros, B Hemambika, A Julffia Begam, P A Azeez Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) Anaikatty, Coimbatore - 641 108, Tamil Nadu
Acknowledgements This book "Lakes of Coimbatore City" is an outcome of the secondary research conducted by SACON ENVIS center on 'Wetland ecosystems including Inland wetlands'. We are grateful to the ENVIS Secretariat for the logistic and financial support in bringing out this book. The encouragement by the Economic Advisor, ENVIS MoEF, Dr. Vandana Aggarwal and the support by the ENVIS secretariat team namely Dr. G S Rawat, Dr. Susan George, Mr. Kumar Rajnish, Mr. Ravi Goswami and Mr. Irfan Ahmed is acknowledged with gratitude. While working on this book we have been constantly encouraged by all the scientific and support staff and students from SACON, their regular probing kept us motivated. Moreover, the scientific staff of SACON since 1995 has been periodically conducting studies on the wetlands of Coimbatore, including short term studies on several aspects of Coimbatore wetlands while guiding students from different institutions for their M.Sc and M.Phil degree. We specially thank Dr. S K Mathew, Dr. S Muralidharan, Dr. P R Arun and Dr. P Pramod who willingly shared information and reports. Dr. M Mahendiran has always obliged in helping identify birds during the field visits and even provided us with good photographs for the book. Dr. S Babu has never hesitated in helping out be it preparing the map of Coimbatore wetlands or correcting the bird list. SACON library assistant Mr. M Manoharan made easy the task of data collection by providing us the project reports and newspaper clippings on Coimbatore wetlands. Here we also express our appreciation to Mr. Kiran Mali (Research associate, FSI Mumbai) and Mr. Alok Chorghe (SRF, BSI Hyderabad) for their timely help in correcting the fish names and the plant names respectively. While collecting data we were helped by the librarian and staff of Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Kongunadu Arts and Science College whereby we could collate data from some of the unpublished thesis and literature. There are several NGOs like Siruthuli, Osai, Save Coimbatore wetlands, and others in Coimbatore who have been untiringly working for the conservation of wetlands, we acknowledge their effort that has generated much data which facilitated in writing this book. We may have missed out in mentioning some names, it is inadvertent; we sincerely thank each and every one for helping us publish this book, generate awareness about the Coimbatore wetlands and reach out to the masses. Goldin Quadros B Hemambika A Julffia Begam P A Azeez
Contents
Acknowledgements Acronyms Introduction Overview of India’s Wetlands Tamil Nadu Wetlands Coimbatore Wetlands Water Quality Sediment Quality Pollutants Flora Plankton Community Benthic Fauna Fish Fauna Amphibians and Reptiles Insect Fauna Birds Mammals Socio Economic Studies Conservation Awareness and Media Our Recent survey on Flora and Birds Status of the Lakes based on Wetland Rules Conclusion and Recommendations References Annexure
---------------- i ---------------- iv ---------------- 1 ---------------- 2 ---------------- 4 ---------------- 6 ---------------- 9 ---------------- 11 ---------------- 11 ---------------- 13 ---------------- 14 ---------------- 15 ---------------- 15 ---------------- 16 ---------------- 16 ---------------- 17 ---------------- 18 ---------------- 18 ---------------- 19 ---------------- 22 ---------------- 23 ---------------- 24 ---------------- 25 ---------------- 29
Acronyms BHC BOD CO2 CCCDP CDP COD DDT DO EE EMRs IRS IUCN Km KP KU MoEF NGO NP NWCP O2 PAHs PWD SAC SACON SC SN SP TEEB TDS TMC TNAU UD UN UNESCO USEPA VK WHO WWF
Benzene Hexa Chloride Biological Oxygen Demand Carbon dioxide Coimbatore Corporation City Development Plan Comprehensive Development Plan Chemical Oxygen Demand Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloro ethane Dissolved Oxygen Environmental Education Electromagnetic Radiations Indian Remote Sensing satellite International Union for Conservation of Nature Kilometer Krishnampathy Kumaraswamy Ministry of Environment and Forests Non Government Organization Narasampathy National Wetland Conservation Programme Oxygen Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Public Works Department Space Application Centre Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History Selvachintamani Singanallur Selvampathy The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Total Dissolved solids Thousand Million Cubic Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Ukkadam United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United States Environmental Protection Agency Valankulam World Health Organisation World Wildlife Fund
Introduction The association of man and wetlands is ancient, with the earliest of civilizations originating in close vicinity of wetland habitats, the flood plains of the Indus, the Nile and the Fertile Crescent of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Wetlands, providing crucial ecosystem services that benefit humankind, are also known as the kidneys of a landscape. Wetlands, the most productive of ecosystems, are also the most threatened. The continuous indiscriminate, overt or otherwise, abuse of the wetland resources has lead to extinction of several valuable ecosystem services, species, as well as pollution of various kinds. A wetland is defined as the “land transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water” (Bergstrom and Stoll, 1990). Scientific literature, however, presents many definitions of wetlands differing in the finer details. Similar is the case with the systems for their classification. Of these, the widely recognised is those by the Ramsar Convention that adopts an extremely broad approach in defining “wetlands”, in fact reflecting the diversity in the characters and features of these complex ecosystems. According to the convention, wetlands are defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters”. Wetlands provide a variety of services to the society, such as water storage, buffering stream and river discharge, groundwater recharge, sediment retention, water purification, microclimate regulation, recreation and ecotourism, organic carbon storage, timber production, and provision of non-timber products, medicinal plants, fish, agricultural products, drinking water for humans and livestock, and pasture land for animal husbandry. Furthermore, they contribute to cultural safeguarding by providing for the needs for traditional communities (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Wetlands contribute significantly to the biodiversity (Gopal et al. 2000) and being among the most productive life-support systems, they have immense social, economic and ecological importance to humankind. The work by Costanza et al. (1997) suggests that fifteen percent of the value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital is generated by wetlands. The mean global value of these services was initially estimated by Costanza et al. (1997), while more recent estimates are based on efforts of an international initiative on 'The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity' (TEEB 2013)and again by Costanza et al. (2014). Both these show estimates for wetlands higher than for most other ecosystems, although, economic valuations for specific wetlands may vary widely. These ecosystems, accounting for about six per cent of the global land area, are among the most threatened of all the environmental resources (Barbier et al. 1997). When properly measured, the total economic value of a wetland's ecological functions, its services and its resources may exceed the economic gains of converting the area to alternative uses. However, appreciation of the ecological values and services still remains rather qualitative than
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quantitative, relatively under-monetised for various scientific and methodological reasons, and the market forces are yet to realise these values; hence, conversion of wetlands into other uses still proceeds in fast pace all over the world. Wetlands are increasingly becoming the most threatened ecosystems worldwide despite global interest and several international treaties that advocate and recommend their regular inventory and efforts aimed at their protection (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Darwall et al. 2008; SCBD 2010). The UN during its General Assembly in December 2003 announced the decade 2005-2015 as international decade of “Water for Life”. The rapid disappearance of wetlands in India, makes their inventory and classification as one of the key components in wetland protection. The value of wetlands and their plight has been in discussion in India for the last several years. End of 2010 saw Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010, being notified and coming into force; the first legislation specifically for protecting wetlands in India. It is estimated that India has lost 38% of its wetlands in just a decade during the 1990's. In some districts, the loss of wetlands has been as high as 88%; Vijayan et al. 2006
Overview of India's Wetlands India, situated between 8º 4' and 37º 6' North Latitudes and 68º 7' and 97º 25' East Longitudes, is the seventh largest country in the world. While occupying only 2.4% of the world's land area (i.e. 3.28 million sq km), it supports over 16% of the world's population. The Indian peninsula is surrounded by water along three sides - the Bay of Bengal on the east, the Arabian Sea on the west and the Indian Ocean to the south. The major rivers of India include the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Godavari, the Cauvery, the Narmada, and the Krishna which debouches into the seas. Apart from these larger rivers there are innumerable smaller ones interspersing the length and breadth of the country. The country has various landforms like the lofty mountains, the deep valleys, extensive plains and several islands. The wetland ecosystems in India are spread over a wide range of varied climatic conditions, ranging from cold and humid Jammu and Kashmir to hot and humid Peninsular India. Wetlands, variously estimated to be occupying 1-5% of geographical area of the country, support about a fifth of the known biodiversity. Like any other place in the world, there is a looming threat of unsustainable human pressures to the Indian wetlands. Looking into the urgent need for sustainable management of these assets, the Government of India has initiated many steps in terms of policies, programmes and plans for the preservation and conservation of these ecosystems. India, one of the early signatory to the Ramsar Convention for management of wetland, is committed for
Source: Vijayan et al. 2004
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conserving their biodiversity and wise use extending its scope to a wide variety of habitats. Under the convention, Twenty-six wetlands have been declared as Ramsar Sites. Further, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has since 1985-86 identified 115 wetlands for conservation and management under the National Wetland Conservation Programme and financial assistance is extended to State Governments for various conservation activities through approved Management Action Plans. Based on the definition of wetlands by the Ramsar Convention the first scientific mapping of wetlands of the country was carried out by Space Applications Centre (SAC, ISRO), Ahmadabad, during1992-93 at the behest of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India using remote sensing data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS-series). The mapping was done at 1:250,000 scale using IRS 1A LISS-I/II data of 1992-93 timeframe under the Nation-wide Wetland Mapping Project. The inventory put the wetland extent (inland as well as coastal) at about 8.26 million ha (Garg et al. 1998). Further updating of the wetland maps was carried out by the SAC using IRS P6/ Resources at AWiFS data of 2004-05 at 1:250000 scale. In subsequent years, a conservation atlas wherein the wetlands mapped at 1:50,000 scale was brought out by Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (Vijayan et al. 2004), which provided additional information in habitat characteristics and species conservation which would be required for any conservation actions. The Space Application Centre in its National Wetland Atlas of 2011 mapped the entire country including the island territories for inventory and assessment of wetlands. This exercise mapped 201503 wetlands at 1:50,000 scale. In addition, 555557 smaller wetlands (< 2.25 ha) have also been identified. Total wetland area estimated is 15.26 M ha, which is 4.63% of the geographic area of the country; inland wetlands 10.56 M ha and coastal wetlands 4.14 M ha. Wetlands in the country were categorised into 2 major categories, 4 sub-categories and 19 classes. River / stream reservoir / barrage, inter-tidal mudflats and natural lake / pond are some of the major types in India and lagoons, mangroves, corals, riverine wetlands and high altitude lakes (>3000 m elevation) are some of the unique wetland types. As per the National Wetland Atlas - 2011, the states with highest extent of wetlands include Lakshadweep having 96.12% of its geographic area under wetlands followed by Andaman & Nicobar Islands (18.52%), Daman & Diu (18.46%) and Gujarat (17.56%). Puducherry (12.88%), West Bengal (12.48%), Assam (9.74%), Tamil Nadu (6.92%), Goa (5.76%), Andhra Pradesh (5.26%), and Uttar Pradesh (5.16%) are other wetland rich states. The lowest extent (less than 1.5% of the state geographic area) was seen in Mizoram (0.66%), which is followed in an increasing order by Haryana (0.86%), Delhi (0.93%), Sikkim (1.05%), Nagaland (1.30%), and Meghalaya (1.34%). In terms of number of wetlands the Atlas shows the highest number of lakes in Tamil Nadu (4369) followed by Uttar Pradesh (3684) and West Bengal (1327). Ox-bow lakes / Cut-off meanders (wetlands cut off from the main river course especially in its sharp bends) are observed in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa, along the course of larger rivers of the country such as Ganges, Brahmaputra etc. Large numbers of riverine wetlands are seen in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. Among the human-made wetlands (reservoirs etc) Andhra Pradesh has highest number (4527) followed by Madhya Pradesh (2005), Uttar Pradesh (1608), Orissa (1379) and Gujarat (1213). Large number of smaller tanks/ ponds, although smaller in size but serving crucial services of various sorts, exists in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
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Tamil Nadu Wetlands Covering 130,058 sq km of southeast peninsular India, the state of Tamil Nadu is blessed with a tremendous diversity of natural resources. In the past the economy of the state was largely agriculture and fishery–based and the population principally rural. The gradual increasing levels of education and industrialization lead to increased urbanization and a reduction in explicit dependence of economy on the wild biodiversity or traditional agricultural biodiversity. Over the last five decades, there has been a boom in the number of small towns and consequent urban sprawls and several chronic and acute environmental after-effects. However, the need to protect natural resources, especially habitats containing wild biodiversity, has not been strongly felt by people in the inland areas. Land is a major important non-renewable natural resource (Jesudas and Kathirvel 2008). The availability of land area per person in Tamil Nadu is only about 60% of the national average. The Census of India (2011) lists Tamil Nadu as the seventh most populous (72,147,030) state in India. The state has about 6% of the country's population, with the density of population 555 as against the national average of 364.9 per sq km. Tamil Nadu is fast urbanising, with as per the recent estimates 44% of the state's population living in urban areas, the highest among the large states in India. All these are pointers emphasise the need to utilize the resources in optimised manner. Tamil Nadu is a state with limited water resources and the rainfall is seasonal and mainly from the northeast monsoon. The annual average rainfall in the state is 977 mm, approximately 33% of this from the southwest monsoon and 48% from the northeast monsoon. Tamil Nadu is among the five Indian states that have over-exploited their ground water resource (Narayanamoorthy 2010), with grey and red areas in ground water exploitation spreading, functional depth of bore wells rapidly increasing, and the number of artesian open wells forced to be abandoned due to the declining water table soaring up. As a testimony of its mastery and competence in tapping the ground water, Tamil Nadu is a leader in the number of bore well rigs catering almost all the states in the country. According to Parvathi (2011), Tamil Nadu is one of the water-starved states with a per capita water availability less than the national average. The available water resource to Tamil Nadu including the imported water is about 5.75 million hectare meter (i.e. 2000 TMC) when the demand is estimated at 7 million hectare meter (i.e. 2500 TMC). This difference can be bridged by getting water from other states that is increasingly becoming difficult, or by decisively enforcing water conservation / management practices. Tamil Nadu is predominantly a shield area with 73% of the area covered under hard crystalline formations while the remaining 27% comprises of unconsolidated sedimentary formations. As far as ground water resource is Prioritized wetlands and concerned, scarcity is the major problem in other conservation areas in TamilNadu. hard rock environment while salinity is the Source: Vijayan et al. 2004 problem in sedimentary areas (Natesan 2008).
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India is a vast country with deep historical roots and strong cultural traditions. One of the most important among these is the traditional techniques of collecting, storing and preserving water for various uses. In Tamil Nadu, lake and well irrigation techniques were implemented in large scale during the reigns of Pandya, Chera and Chola dynasties and large water diversion structures were built across Cauvery and Vaigai rivers. The Pallavas in the 7th century AD expanded the irrigation systems significantly. The famous Cauvery Anicut (Kallanai) was built during this period. Large-scale constructions of tanks (Tataka) for harvesting rainwater were also done during this period in the state. The Chola period (985-1205 AD) witnessed the introduction of advanced irrigation systems, which brought about prosperity in the Deccan region. This included not only anicuts across rivers and streams but also a number of tanks with connecting channels (Parvathi 2011). This system was more reliable in ensuring water availability, and it provided better flexibility and control in water distribution. However, the Tank system once well maintained by villagers, slowly disintegrated over the period of time (Sakthivadivel et al.2004) due to various reasons such as changes in land holding pattern, advent of large scale irrigation projects, exploitation of deeper aquifers, and change in preference of livelihood strategies at village levels, change in control structures and institutions and so on. Over-exploitation has seriously undermined the value of natural aquatic ecosystems across the country and Tamil Nadu is no exception. This has serious implications of various kinds, on local environment, on various wild and domestic species, on the overall environmental and human life quality, and ecological security. Hence, it has become imperative to protect the water bodies from threats; encroachments, disuse and misuse on an urgent basis. In order to protect the tanks under the control of Water Resources Department, an Act entitled “Tamil Nadu protection of tanks and eviction of encroachment act (2007)” was legislated. The Act and Rules have come into force on 1.10.2007. As a first step for purposeful and effective implementation of this Act, the government of Tamil Nadu had taken steps for creating awareness among the general public especially at village level about the provision of the Act and Rules and the need to keep the local tanks in original shape. Despite the changes in lifestyle and the style of exploitation, numerous tanks and ponds still exist in the state. As per the National Wetland Atlas (2011), 61% of Tamil Nadu's wetlands are classified under lakes, ponds and tanks. As noted above 24684 wetlands have been mapped in the state. In addition, 18294 small wetlands (< 2.25 ha) have also been identified. Total wetland area estimated is 902534 ha, which is around 6.92% of the total geographic area. Of this, the major wetland types are lake (316091 ha), tank (237613 ha), river / stream (136878 ha), and reservoir / barrage (56419 ha). Area under mangrove is around 7315 ha. Coral Reef (3899 ha) exists mainly in Ramanathapuram district. Proportionately, among the 30 districts in the state, the Ramanathapuram district has as high as 18.05% of geographic area under wetlands while it is as low as 1.08% in Coimbatore. In terms of total wetland area, Kancheepuram is the leading district (80445 ha, 8.91%) and Chennai is trailing (917 ha, 0.10 %).
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Coimbatore Wetlands Coimbatore district has a geographic area of 7,47,079 hectares. It was a small tribal village capital of Kongunad that is said to have existed even prior to the 2nd century AD, until Karikalan the first of the Cholas brought it under their control. It was said that the name originated from “Kovanputtur” after the Irula chieftain 'Kovan' or 'Koyen' who founded it and that this name later on evolved and came to be pronounced as Coimbatore (Joy 1973, Chandrabose & Nair 1988). Kongunad was ruled by many famous kings from Cheras, Pandyas, Pallavas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara and Chalukyas. Coimbatore district located between 10°55' and 11°10'N, and 77°10' and 76°50'E with an approximate altitude of 470m. It forms part of the upland plateau region of Tamil Nadu with many hill ranges, hillocks and undulating topography with gentle slopes towards east from the hilly terrain in the west. The innumerable depressions formed due to the undulating topography were effectively used as tanks for storage of rainwater for agriculture and other direct and indirect uses. The Nilgiris on the north-west and Annamalai on the south are the important hill ranges. The “Palghat Gap”, which is an east-west trending mountains pass, is an important physiographic feature located in the western part (Neha et al. 2007, Parvathi 2011) while, the river Noyyal (Noyyal in Tamil translates to 'devoid of illness') flows along the southern side of the district. The River Noyyal is a prominent and historical feature of Coimbatore and the surrounding districts of Erode and Tirupur of Tamil Nadu State. It is considered a divine and holy river, which arises from the Vellingiri hills of the Western Ghats of Coimbatore district. It is a tributary of the river Cauvery (a large inter-state river that flows through the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with a smaller share of catchment in the state of Kerala). The river Noyyal joins river Cauvery at the Noyyal village, in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The main sources of water for this river are the Aandi Sunai from Vellingiri hills, Siruvani Waters from Porathi and Siruvani hills and Chinnaru waters from Kodungarai Pallam, and water form Orathi falls and Ayyasamy falls. The rain fed Noyyal River, flowing from west to east, travels a distance of 180 km through the five districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Karur, and Trichy, covering an area of 0.35 M ha. The water from the river, which is found to be of potable quality for the first few kilometres, becomes heavily polluted as it traverses through human settlements and industrial clusters (Mathew et al. 1995, Sivakumar et al. 1996, Senthilnathan and Azeez 1999a, b, c, Sivakumar and Azeez 1999, Rachna et al. 2010, Rajashekariah 2011, Pragatheesh and Jain 2013). The nature of the river getting flooded downstream, especially near the Noyyal village during the rains in otherwise scanty rainfall area typical of this region caused the Chola kings to create an ingenious system of lakes and anicuts festooning the course of the river to not only contain and channelize the monsoon waters but also to aid recharge of the groundwater. During the Kongu Chola regime in 8th and 9th centuries AD, 30 wetlands were constructed, for irrigation and floods mitigation, on both sides of the River Noyyal. All these wetlands are connected with the River Noyyal and interconnected to each other. Over the years, these wetlands have played an important part in the human history and environment in the
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region. On the decline of the Chola regime, Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheran dynasty during 1200 AD. In course of time it developed into a strategic town especially during the Nayaka rule of Madurai. The region served as an important trade route between the coastal areas of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and was a strategic location in the ancient trade route connecting to the east of the Peninsula (Maddy 2009, Parvathi 2011). In 1799, Tippu Sultan conceded the town to the British colonialists, who subsequently promoted Coimbatore as the military transit town between Palghat in the west and Gazalhatty in the north. In the year 1866, Coimbatore was constituted as a Municipal Town with an area of 10.88 sq km, and beginning in 1879, the city started emerging as an administrative and industrial town in its own merit. The second largest city of Tamil Nadu over the years has grown in the number of small-scale engineering units and textile mills. Coimbatore, due to its flourishing cotton cultivation, for its highly fertile black cotton soil, favourable climate, and entrepreneurship and consequential cotton industry, later was called the 'Manchester of South India'. In fact, the metal casting and pump industry for which Coimbatore later became renowned was nurtured by the requirement of the cotton industries. Rajashekariah (2011), in his report on the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity observed that Table 1: Classification of land into agricultural, urban, water bodies and wasteland areas the urban agglomeration of Coimbatore expanded from 38 sq km in 1973 to 79 sq km in 1989 and further to 274 sq km in 2010, registering over five fold expansion, in less than four decades. In terms of spatial pattern, the city developed concentrically during the initial years and later into linear development along the major roads (Coimbatore Corporation City Source: Devadass, 2010 Development Plan 2006). A review of 2002 land use plan for the city indicated that nearly 75 per cent of land within the corporation limits had developed into urban land use, while the rest was classified as agricultural land, water bodies, vacant areas, and heritage sites. This observation conforms with the findings of Devadass (2010) who while characterizing the urban development in Coimbatore district using remote sensing techniques noted drastic reduction in the Agricultural land as well as the wasteland coupled with the increase in urban land area (Table 1) during 1995 to 2002. Devadass (2010), however, did not talk about the disturbances to the wetlands in the city. As noted above, Coimbatore district has been ranked lowest in the number of wetlands in Tamil Nadu. Most of the wetlands in Coimbatore are under severe anthropogenic pressure and threat. Space Application Centre (SAC) in its National Wetlands Atlas has pointed out that Tamil Nadu is wetland rich since it has 6.92% of geographical areas under wetlands. However, the network of manmade wetlands in Coimbatore that is its lifeline as the city has grown around them, contributes only 1.08% of the total area. Although Coimbatore is a prospering city, its lakes are in peril. Influx of population (Figure 1) into the city and increasing growth of more than 40,000 small, medium and large industries including textile mills and foundries has become a strong economic alternative to the poorly irrigated agricultural lands in the city and its suburbs. The industrial pollutants from western and northern portions of the city have disturbed the biotic life in the Noyyal River and associated water bodies. Only during the last few years the city has seen growing concern among a couple of NGOs and research organisations about the sad state of the wetlands and the river, which need to spread far and wide and deep to the public and the authorities for effective actions. Some of the NGOs in the city have taken notable proactive steps to save the wetlands, although these actions need to be more rationalized and customised towards ecological enrichment of the habitats and sustainability; building bunds is an important step but strengthening the bunds into sustainable habitats is a crucial next step.
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The City has nine lakes within the Coimbatore Corporation limits set prior to September, 2010, namely Ammankulam, Narasampathi, Krishnampathi, Selvampathy, Kumaraswamy aka Muthannakulam, Selvachinthamani, Periya Kulam aka Ukkadam Big Tank, Valankulam and Singanallur. However, during the last couple of decades a part of the Ammankulam was converted into housing blocks by the state government and the other part encroached by slums (Mohanraj et al. 2010). The lake, now completely encroached and converted, will be known only as a slum redevelopment scheme; the lost and unsung ecological services and values will remain a myth, to be reminisced by the fading generation. Figure 1: The population growth of Coimbatore According to the PWD the lake bed area of the lakes Corporation for the years from 1911 to 2011 is given varies and is 19.425 hectares for Narasampathi, 21.853 below, Elangovan (2005) Census of India (2011). hectares for Krishnampathi, 16.187 hectares for Selvampathy, 25.495 hectares for Kumaraswamy, 10.522 P hectares for Selvachintamani, 136.379 hectares for o Ukkadam, 38.85 hectares for Valankulam and 66.773 p u hectares for Singanallur Lake (Pragatheesh and Jain l 2013). Earlier all these lakes were under the control of a the Public Works Department (PWD), Government of t Tamil Nadu. Recently, the remaining eight lakes were i o handed over to the Corporation for a lease of Rs 100/yr n for a period of 90 years. Years As noted earlier, the Noyyal River is known to have 30 tanks / lakes along its course before joining the Cauvery. Of these 24 falls within the limits of Coimbatore district, and nine within the corporation limits (as on September 2010). This document, addresses only the existing eight urban lakes of Coimbatore. Aquatic ecosystems are critical for maintaining the health of cities. In addition to serving the basic human and biodiversity needs, water acts as a sink, solvent and a medium for transport of sewage and industrial wastes generated in the city (Rajashekaria 2011). With a desire for first hand experience of the tanks/lakes of Coimbatore, we conducted a few visits around the lakes. During these visits, we recorded fauna (primarily birds), flora and made use of the opportunities to interact with the local residents to have a feel of their perceptions on the water bodies. In addition to our field survey, we browsed extensively through literature both published and grey on the urban lakes. The wetlands of Coimbatore are known to have served the society for over 800 years and continue to do so despite serious setbacks and pressures. The lakes that were aimed at flood control, ground water recharge and irrigation were indiscriminately exploited for industrial and agricultural purposes in due course of time. With time, the Noyyal River and the interconnected lakes have become the recipients of solid waste, treated and untreated sewage and effluents affecting the water quality. The water courses near almost all developing cities are easy targets for destruction and negligence as a rule world over rather than an exception; the River Noyyal and its associated wetlands remains a distressing example lamenting the bygone wisdom of erstwhile civilisations in the area. The Comprehensive Development Plan for Coimbatore (CDP 2006) states that only 43 per cent of the households in the city are connected to a sewage system, while the rest either discharge directly into the fresh water ecosystems, the River Noyyal or are connected to individual septic tanks. Industrial and other municipal effluents, much more polluting in terms of their recalcitrant pollutant loads, follow the same path - flow down to the nearest watercourse.
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Water Quality Water is the most vital resource for all forms of life and the inevitable need for water has located the world's population around water bodies. However, indiscriminate use of the water resources has led to serious problems for the entire world. A good clean fresh water body bestows immense economical, ecological and aesthetic benefits. These values in their realistic terms are yet to be acknowledged by market forces and therefore are pushed back when compared to other commercial ventures. As a result, very little effort has been made for the protection and conservation of aquatic ecosystems, particularly in the urban environment (Kodarkar 1995) which holds true for Coimbatore wetlands. Ecological studies of lakes help us to understand the quality of water and the system in a more holistic manner. Early in the history of ecology, lakes were recognised as a paradigm of ecosystem concept (Forbes 1887) and their studies helped much to reveal many fundamental ecological principles (Lindeman 1942). Degradation of natural resources is a major environmental issue the world is currently facing (Twilley et al. 1998) and aquatic systems are among the most distressed and hence to detect the extent of deterioration of these ecosystems constant monitoring is essential. The wetlands of Coimbatore have also been to an extent investigated intermittently, and scientific literature on them is available since mid nineties. Although none of the wetlands is extensively studied, major ones like the Ukaddam, Valankulam and Singanallur Lakes seem to be favourites among the researchers, and have comparatively more scientific information (Table 2). The knowledge of the physico-chemical parameters of water is crucial for proper management of any water body. These parameters reflect the status of different metabolic processes in the water body significantly influencing the aquatic life and ecosystem services from the wetland. Several physico-chemical parameters as well as nutrients have been assessed from the eight wetlands of Coimbatore city. Here we present a brief of a few relatively studied aspects to better understand and highlight the significance of Coimbatore city lakes. Dissolved oxygen is one of the most important factors in water quality. Generally, low oxygen levels are associated with heavy contamination by organic matter. The increasing salinity associated with chloride content is also known to cause reduction of Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
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in water bodies (Quadros 1995). The low DO reflects the physical and biological process prevailing in the natural water. The main source of DO is the diffusion from the atmosphere and the photosynthetic evolution. According to Levington (1982), in shallow waters DO can be lowered down during phytoplankton blooms, as the bacteria utilize oxygen to degrade the large amount of dead plankton, or the discharged waste (Trivedy and Goel 1984), leading to anoxia. In recent years, the urban wetlands of Coimbatore show hypoxia with frequent instances of anoxia and reports of fish kills. The extent of organic pollution in the Coimbatore city wetlands as indicated by the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) far exceeds the permissible limits of 5 mg/L set by WHO for unpolluted natural waters. Consequent to high BOD and low DO, aquatic organisms are stressed, suffocated and may die off. In conjunction with the BOD estimation, the COD test is helpful in indicating toxic conditions and the presence of biologically resistant organic substances (Sawyer et al. 2003). Though the COD has not been frequently estimated, the limited number of studies does show extreme variations in the chemical toxicity in Coimbatore wetlands. This is further corroborated by the evidences of organic pollution indicated by the high content of nutrients such as Ammonia, Nitrates, Phosphates and others. Though these nutrients are essential in biological processes, in excess it is detrimental, lead to eutrophication, and explosion of resistant species and inaesthetic algal blooms in aquatic ecosystems. The temperature is known to play an important role in maintaining all ecosystems including the aquatic ones. The organisms are tolerant to specific ranges of temperature, outside which they cannot function. Egbore (1978) stated that a small variation in temperature affects density of water, which in turn influences the movements of aquatic organisms as well as dissolved substances in water. Temperature controls chemical and biological reactions in aquatic organisms and plays important role in shallow water bodies as the changes are rapidly distributed across the water mass (Somani 2002). The lakes in the Coimbatore city are all of shallow depth where in the water temperature would be significantly influenced by the atmospheric temperature; that would also notably alter the biogeochemical processes in the ecosystem. Interestingly, except for the study by Maharajan (2012) on the Coimbatore city lakes, none of the earlier researchers gave any attention to this crucial parameter. At the same time pH, a function of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) content (Odum 1971) that can illustrate the metabolism of CO2 and Oxygen (O2) in water has been habitually recorded. Except for a few occasions where the lakes are acidic as expected of fresh water bodies the literature for the Coimbatore city lakes show them to be mostly alkaline indicating stress on the ecosystem. According to the World Health Organisation (1997), alkalinity of natural waters above 120 mg/L (as CaCO3) is harmful to the aquatic ecosystem. Corroborating the observations for pH, the alkalinity in the Coimbatore wetlands far exceeded even the BIS standard of 600 mg/L and reached up to 1470 mg/L as recorded by Mohanraj et al. (2000) for Selvachintamani Lake. The high alkalinity can be attributed to the silicate, phosphates, borates, in addition to the carbonates and bicarbonates fluctuating with the pollution load (Srivastava et al. 2011). Further, most of the salts (including nutrients such as Nitrates and Phosphates) and a variety of organic substances are soluble in water, thereby the quantity of dissolved solids conferring a degree of hardness to it. According to WHO (1997) Total Dissolved solids (TDS) higher than 200 mg/L makes the water non-potable. With incessant misuse of the city wetlands, for over a couple of decades, now the water has become unfit for routine uses including human consumption. The researchers are of consensus that the release of untreated sewage and industrial effluents are the main sources of chlorides and other chemicals leading to high TDS and hardness in the wetland waters. The ecological significance of chlorides lies in its potential to regulate salinity of water and consequent osmotic stress to biotic communities (Somani 2002). Depending on the effluent load in the wetlands, there are reports of fluctuations in the chloride content of the water bodies that at times even exceeded the WHO limit of 250 mg/L for chlorides.
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Sediment Quality Sediment is an inseparable part of the aquatic ecosystem and acts as the reservoir for several nutrients and pollutants. Nandan and Aziz (1996) opine that sediments are indicators of the overlying water quality and study of sediments is a useful tool to assess environmental pollution. Sediment is a complex heterogeneous system made up of organic matter, soil particulates, pore-water, minerals, several nutrients and macro and microorganisms. They replenish the overlying water with nutrients in times of need and remove them from water, when it carries too much of the same, which helps the biological cycle of the system. Wetlands according to Conley et al. (1991) are universally used as biological systems for effluent purification and are attractive to the industries as they provide an alternative low cost, low maintenance and simple methods for domestic and industrial sewage treatment. The mechanisms involved in the immobilization of pollutants in the sediment of a wetland include adsorption on ion exchange sites, binding to organic matter, incorporation into lattice structures and precipitation into insoluble compounds (Dunbabin and Bowmer 1992). These reactions largely are microbe mediated and the processes according to DeBustamante (1990) are affected by biological, ch e m i c a l a n d p hy s i c a l properties of the sediment in particular pH, soil texture, cation exchange capacity, redox potential, salinity and nutrients. Having known this, the studies on the sediment and microbial characteristics of Coimbatore urban wetlands are far and few; however, whatever literature available show evidences of pollution accumulation including that of heavy metals (Table 3).
Pollutants In aquatic ecosystems that receive solid waste, domestic and industrial effluents, chemical pollutants and recalcitrant ones such as heavy metals are likely to be serious problem. In Coimbatore, a growing city and an industrial hub, the effluents would contain metals like Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, Chromium and Iron (Mathew et al. 2002, 2003). These metals were recorded in the water, sediment and the biota in the urban Coimbatore wetlands (Table 3). The trace metals present in waters and sediment are not conservative, but dynamic and go through biogeochemical cycles. They tend to accumulate in organisms at various trophic levels creating potential hazards for the biota and human beings. In the case of Coimbatore city wetlands heavy metal contamination from the water column and sediments has been assessed but not much attempts have gone into analysing the heavy metal accumulation in the biota. In 1995 Mathew et al. assessed the accumulation of heavy metals in the most common fish Tilapia mossambica after which only recently has John and Muralidharan (2013) recorded accumulation of some trace metals from the sediments to the plants while, Chitra et al. (2013) documented accumulation of metals beyond the permissible limits in tissues of some fish species. Polycyclic
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Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) a priority pollutant listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is found naturally in the environment but can also be humanmade. Major sources of PAHs in the environment are fossil fuel combustion processes, crude oil, coal and oil shale (Mastral and Callen 2000). PAHs, which are detrimental to the human health, are also produced due to incomplete burning process of materials such as garbage, a frequent scene all around Coimbatore. PAHs studies in Coimbatore wetlands are also rare except for the one-off studies such as those by Suresh (2012) and Karthick (2013) on the PAH accumulation in 11 fish species and a mollusc species respectively. Since agriculture is usually practiced in the drained- out portions of the wetlands of Coimbatore, pesticides and fungicides used in agriculture find its way into the wetlands. Although few of these chemicals can naturally degrade fast, some of them like BHC, DDT and endosulphan are persistent for longer period and find their way into the biota from the water column. The knowledge of this aspect of pollution is crutial for the city like Coimbatore where there is a significant population that is dependant on the wetlands for the ecological and economic benefits. Barring Mathew et al. (1995) reporting occurrence of BHC, DDT and endosulphan in the fish Tilapia mossambica from Ukkadam Lake, there is no literature available addressing pesticide pollution in the urban wetlands of Coimbatore. Recent research findings indicate that electromagnetic radiation from cell towers could be one of the possible environmental pollutant (electro-smog) resulting in various negative biological effects. Impact of Electromagnetic radiations (EMRs) near cell phone towers / stations has been reported on several aspects of human health. It also reportedly affects distribution and populations of plants, birds, bees and other animals (Arun and Azeez 2011), although further intensive investigations are required to corroborate the suspicions. Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries and has the highest growth rate in the world (about 45%, Kumaresh 2012). Coimbatore has a continuously increasing urban population that is dependent on cell phones. Orapim (2012) conducted a preliminary study to check the radiation from the urban cell phone towers and their role in the abundance, diversity and distribution of the birds of urban Coimbatore wetlands during September and October 2012. The study has documented maximum number of cell phone towers around Selvachinthamani Lake (15 towers) and the lowest around Krishnampathy Lake (two towers). Notable difference in the levels of radiation, among the lakes was also observed, with only one of the eight lakes, namely Krishnampathy Lake, showing safe level of radiation. While Selvachinthamani Lake showed Dangerous level of radiation, the other six (Singanallur, Valankulam, Periyakulam, Selvampathy, Narasampathy and Kumaraswamy), showed 'Caution level' of radiation. Correlating the data with the bird survey showed that the Singanallur Lake had more bird species (41 species) while Selvachinthamani Lake had the lowest number of bird species. The author infers that the radiation level could possibly influence the wetland usage pattern by birds; a conclusion that needs further corroboration by a wider investigation. As high level of radiation may lead to less bird species and number, Orapim (2012) emphasised the need for a long-term study on the radiation / Electromagnetic pollution. The release, deposition and aggregation of pollutants result in altering the flora and fauna supported by the wetlands. Environmental factors vary on spatial and temporal scales in complex ecosystems such as wetlands. Aquatic communities (like plankton, algae, vegetation, invertebrates, fish, birds), reflect the effects of chemical and physical disturbances. A biota that shows change from dominance to gradual disappearance of a species is of high ecological and conservational significance. Biological monitoring or Biomonitoring consists of groups of species, each group with relatively well-defined resource / habitat requirements, so that they may reflect changes in the environment. Biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems is done using numerous methods, which are based on attributes of species assemblages ranging from macrophytes (Galatowitsch et al. 1999, Gernes and Helgen 1999), diatoms (Fore and Grafe 2002), macro invertebrates (Kerans and Karr 1994, Barbour et al. 1996), amphibians (Micacchion 2004), fish (Schulz et al. 1999), birds (O'Connell et al. 2008) and such taxa. Biological indicators are important tools in the environment assessment process because protection and management of these organisms are also important aims that most assessment programs hope to achieve.
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Flora The vegetation in and around the wetlands are important in the ecology and economics of a wetland and knowledge of the flora in the system is important to gauge the health of a water body and it is more so in an urban setup. The flora of Coimbatore city has interested botanists for decades because of several reasons and since it is the type locality for as many as six taxa (Chandrabose 1981). Several taxonomists starting with Barber in 1826 have made sporadic collections from the city, followed by Chandrashekaran and Girija Lakshman in 1950 documenting 100 tree species. Chandrabose in 1981 reported that only 76 of the above 100 trees existed then while he recorded 31 additional tree species in the region. Chandrabose (1981) and Chandrabose and Nair (1988) based on their study of over a decade have made a comprehensive account of the floral diversity; 159 species belonging to 51 families across the Coimbatore city including the Noyyal River, its ponds and canals. Their study covering six urban wetlands categorised the aquatic flora into four plant communities; i) submerged aquatics rooted in the sandy or muddy bottom, growing at different water depths (e.g. Ceratophyllum demersum, Hydrilla verticillata, etc.), ii) attached floating aquatics comprising of plants rooted in the soil with slender and long petioles whose leaves emerge at the surface floating (e.g. Ipomoea aquatica, Nymphaea nouchali, etc), iii) the common Free floating aquatics (e.g. Eichhornia crassipes and Lemna paucicostata ) and the Reed swamp vegetation that margins the ponds with pure stands of species such as Colocasia esculenta, Cyperus alopecuroides, etc. In addition to these four communities, during the dry season they have recorded instances of cultivation in the ponds amidst which unwanted species such as Argemone mexicana, Chloris barbata, and Cleome chelidonii grew. Despite this important work, the floral diversity for Noyyal River, its ponds and channels remains described only in a collective manner leaving room for specific pond wise studies. The literature shows that the flora of only Ukkadam Lake has been documented separately, first by Mathew et al (1995) and recently by Shankar (2012). While the former reported 41 species Shankar mentions only 28 species of aquatic and associated vegetation from the lake . Over the years, 70 plant species (19 Orders and 30 families) are reported from the four urban Coimbatore wetlands (Kumaraswamy Lake - Jayalakshmi et al. 2006 and Kevin & Muralidharan 2013; Ukkadam Lake - Mathew et al. 1995, Bubesh et al., 2006, Nishadh 2009, Rachna 2010, Shankar 2012 and Kevin & Muralidharan 2013; Valankulam Jayalakshmi et al. 2006 and Bubesh et al. 2006; Singanallur Lake - Bubesh et al. 2006, Thangavelu 2006, Dhanalakshmi 2008, Karthick et al. 2009, Kevin & Muralidharan 2013). In terms of plant diversity, Ukkadam Lake stands first with 59 species followed by Singanallur with 24 plant species (Table 4).
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Plankton Community
The plankton community is an important component in any aquatic ecosystem. Based on the variations in character, composition and habit the plankton are categorised into Bacterioplankton (including bacteria), Phytoplankton (autotrophs / plants) and Zooplankton (heterotrophs / animals). The bacteria are responsible for conversion of nutrients into different forms and decomposition of complex organic substances to simple ones. The phytoplankton act as primary producers trapping the solar energy and make it available to the primary consumers and other higher trophic level species such as fishes and birds. The plankton mainly support the pelagic food chain, but also play an important role supporting the detritus food chain, as many of them are short lived, with high turnover rate and settle down to form the detritus. The estimates of plankton diversity and quantity are useful in evaluating the health and productivity of aquatic ecosystems (Lodh 1990). Although, in Tamil Nadu, plankton studies covering algae are frequent (Somani 2002); the data on the urban wetlands of Coimbatore is limited. The plankton studies in Coimbatore are recent; Manivannan et al. (2013) reported prevalence of pathogens in Selvachintamani and Valankulam while undertaking microbial analysis relating the pathogens mainly as disease causing factors to the humans from the nearby areas. The zooplankton from Ukkadam Lake were studied during 2003–2004 by Ezhili et al. (2013), who documented eight Protozoan genera, six genera of Rotifers, seven genera of Cladocerans and six genera of Copepods. Further, their study revealed the dominance of pollution indicator species such as Didinium sp., Oxitricha sp. and Alona sp., There is no information available on the phytoplankton in the water column of Coimbatore wetlands, except for the rare ones such as by Karthick et al. (2009); the lone study is on the benthic (sediment dwelling) diatoms from Singanallur Lake. The diatoms along with chlorophytes, euglenoids and cyanobacteria comprise the microphytobenthos also known as benthic microalgae that form the autotrophic component in aquatic sediments. Diatoms known to be specific in their preference and tolerance to environmental conditions can be used as indicators of water quality and organic pollution. Karthick et al. (2009), recorded 90% dominance of the extreme pollution tolerant benthic diatom Cyclotella meneghiniana among the ten species recorded for the Singanallur Lake, indicating the bad water quality and eutrophic conditions in the lakes.
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Benthic Fauna Benthic organisms, those living in or on the sediment, are an important link in the food web. They connect the detritus and small planktonic and bottom organisms into the main food chain (Mann 1976). Benthic infauna are important mediators of nutrient recycling from sediments into the water column. According to Hartley (1982), benthic studies can indicate the magnitude as well as spatial and temporal distribution of pollution in the environment. Benthos is superior to other biological groups in indicating pollution stress because they are sedentary and must adapt to environmental stress or perish. Benthic organisms are very sensitive to habitat disturbance, including organic enrichment, and some species and communities are regarded as the best indicators of pollution. The wetlands of Coimbatore have been under pressure from anthropogenic activities and continuous stress for over a decade now. However, the stress factor that has been explored has never included the benthic community except for one study by Nishadh (2009). He recorded 13 families belonging to four classes while concluding that the Ukkadam Lake have minimum diversity and was most polluted than other lakes located outside the city limits. Rashmi (2004) reported nine species of gastropods from Singanallur Lake. Karthick (2012) reported Pila globosa to be the common gastropod in five of the city lakes and used the species to estimate the accumulation of PAH in the mollusc. He inferred that the mollusc at Krishnampathy Lake accumulated maximum PAHs, while the minimum concentration was recorded in Narasampathy Lake. Thus, benthos seems to be providing accurate and reproducible model that reflects the status of water quality. Hence, it would be sound to undertake regular monitoring of benthic organisms in all the wetlands while designing conservation strategies and measures.
Fish Fauna Fresh water fishes constitute the most conspicuous components of inland aquatic fauna. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) report, inland fishery is of particular importance to developing countries as they form the primary source of animal protein accessible to the poor people. Being a major source of protein, fish are cultured in lakes and reservoirs by systematic techniques. The ponds and lakes of Coimbatore have traditionally been used for aquaculture; fish fry are stocked every year and fattened fishes are harvested, largely by the Seviyar fishing community (Mathew et al. 1995) who holds customary rights or rights obtained through tender. However, there has been very little documentation of the natural fish fauna in the lakes. Twenty one species of fish have been recorded (Table 5) from six
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of the city lakes although the studies undertaken have mainly focused on aspects of pollution accumulation only (Mathew et al. 1995, Senguttavan 2003, Ezhili 2008, Suresh 2012 and Chitra 2013). All the 21 species are reported from Ukkadam as the lake has comparatively easier access. While assessing the socio-ecological aspects for sustainable management of Ukkadam lake, Shankar (2012) interviewed the fishers and other community residing close by the lake. As per the interview the fishermen were depending on the lake for minimum of one year to over 58 years and in recent years they earn an average daily income of Rs 300/-. The income was mainly from the fish cultured in the lake, and it varied with the season and on the size of the harvest. The city's fisher folks, who also runs cooperative societies, are of the opinion that regular monitoring of the diversity and health of the fish will help the community as well as the society.
Amphibians and Reptiles Amphibians play a pivotal role in the ecosystem, especially the aquatic ones, as secondary consumers in many food chains. From ecological perspective, amphibians are regarded as good indicators, due to their high degree of sensitivity, during either tadpole or adult stage responding to very slight change in environment and relatively high sight fidelity. Such responces have been used to indicate habitat fragmentation, ecosystem stress, impact of pesticides and various anthropogenic activities. Reptiles, a category that include lizards, snakes, turtles, alligators and crocodiles. They are mostly carnivorous and are beneficial to man in controlling the pest population including insects and rodents. Changes in the land use patterns and increased anthropogenic activities are one of the main causes for their disappearance from ecosystems. Amphibians and reptiles are much-neglected group of fauna from the Coimbatore wetlands. The only records available for Coimbatore wetlands is for the Ukkadam Lake, where in Mathew et al. (1995) documented eight species of amphibians and 27 species of reptiles. Of the eight amphibian species they observed, three highly aquatic species were very common viz. Euphlyctis cyanophylictis, Euphlyctis hexadactylaus and Fejerverya limnocharis. The reptiles documented were nine species of lizards including the endangered Varanus bengalensis and 14 species of snakes that included the Cobra, Common Krait and Sawscaled Viper. However, turtles were not recorded during their study.
Insect Fauna Insects, despite some of them being harmful to man and economy, are overwhelmingly vital in various ecosystem services. Their adaptive ingenuity has allowed them to exploit varied niches in almost all the habitats of the world. The wetlands from Coimbatore city also harbour a diversity of insect fauna; although not much attempt to document the same have happened. A brief investigation by Nishadh (2009) documented nine families belonging to six orders of benthic insects from Ukkadam Lake, which apparently was low than other lakes from the district attributing the low diversity to local pollution stress. Arulprakash and Gunatilakraj (2010) reported eight species of Odonata and attributed the low diversity to sewage load and presence of insectivorous fish in Ukkadam Lake. Apart from these two studies, there has been no consummated interest among the researchers and naturalists concerning the insect fauna in these lakes.
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Birds Birds are not precisely aquatic creatures but a large number of them depend vitally on the aquatic environment for their survival. Their population reflects the health of the ecosystem since birds are remarkable biological indicators. In urban landscapes, the habitat dynamics are entirely dictated by human population and the subsequent anthropogenic activities are primarily responsible for the habitat change. The degradation caused to urban wetlands have an incalculable effect on the wildlife, water quality, hydrological cycles and other wetland functions and values. Birds prefer habitats that provide them with plenty of food. Prabhadevi et al. (2011) at Point Calimere documented water birds consuming a variety of food ranging from algae, plankton, worms, insects, molluscs, fish and their like. In recent years, there have been many studies in the country on the urban wetlands and their potentials in terms of providing the ecosystem services and goods (Nagarajan 2011, Thiyagesan and Nagrajan 1995, Meganathan 2002, Saikia and Saikia 2011, Quadros et al. 2009, Murugesan et al. 2011, Chandravanshi et al. 2011, Kedar 2011, Mehra et al. 2011, Chettiar et al. 2011, Abbey and Rebecca 2013, Akram et al. 2013, Sharma 2013). Coimbatore city wetlands, as evident from earlier discussions, have been a subject of interest to many naturalists as well as researchers, especially with respect to bird fauna, for the last couple of decades. One of the earliest, relatively comprehensive, study is by Mathew et al. (1995) reporting 71 species of birds from Ukkadam Lake. Yet, except for several short notes and grey reports not much scientific publications are available on bird fauna of the city lakes. The studies, mostly short term ones, resulted in checklists of species for a few of the lakes. Until date, around 133 species of birds representing 48 families and 16 orders have been recorded around the city wetlands; most of the species either wetland birds or wetlandassociated species (Table 6). The checklist of birds would surely change, as certain earlier unrecorded species are reportedly visiting these wetlands in recent years, perhaps for the changes happening in climate or wider landscape. The study by Reginald et al. (2007), listing 116 bird species, is a relatively long-term documentation of Singanallur Lake, covering a few years of regular observation. Other studies include the list of birds made by Deivanayaki (2007) for Ukkadam and Singanallur Lakes, and a comparative study of birds covering several districts of Tamil Nadu that included Valankulam, Ukkadam and Singanallur Lakes of Coimbatore city by Gupta et al. (2011). Over the years, in the city wetlands Kavitha et al. (2011) have observed a rise in the population of Spot billed Pelican, in addition to the regular sightings of Painted stork, Cormorants and Oriental white ibis all of which belong to the Near Threatened category in IUCN's Red List. Pramod during 2011 conducted a simultaneous survey of 17 wetlands from the Coimbatore district that also included three of the city wetlands. Recently Maharajan (2012), while studying the physicochemical aspects of the city wetlands, documented 43 species of birds from the citys' eight urban lakes. During the same year, Orapim (2012) also listed 60 bird species, while assessing effects of the mobile tower radiation, from the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore.
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Mammals Coimbatore district is richly endowed with hills, forests, wildlife, and rivers. The Coimbatore forest division forms the part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The region is rich in wide variety of flora and fauna. Apart from the Avifauna that numbers over 200 species for the district, the mammalian fauna comprises of herbivores such as Asian Elephant, Wild Gaur, Sambar, Chital etc; carnivores such as Tiger, Leopard, Wild dogs; omnivores such as Sloth Bear, Wild Boar and Primates (common languor) etc. Wetlands are known to provide suitable habitat for several organisms including aquatic and terrestrial, both vertebrates and invertebrates. However, as far as the Coimbatore city wetlands are concerned the mammals are hardly explored. The ones that are usually encountered during visits include the domestic cattle, cats and dogs (Reginald et al. 2007) that do not excite the researchers or naturalist usually. The wetlands as already discussed are important to several invertebrates including insects that may lead either their entire or part of their life cycle around water bodies. The insects are an attraction to the flying mammals, the bats that otherwise is a relatively neglected taxa. The bats play a crucial role as an ecological mammalian indicator species in wetland functionality assessment (Athira 2012). The bats being sensitive to environmental changes can provide information on habitat degradation and human induced changes. An attempt to study the bats at two different wetland habitats of Coimbatore was made by Athira (2012) during the months of March and April 2012. One of the study sites was the Ukkadam Lake in the city. The study documents Pipistrellus as the wide spread and dominant genus of bat in the study area with Pipistrellus tenuis as the most common and most abundant species of the three recorded during the study. The results obtained during the study hint towards extending more attention to this neglected taxa and assessment of its importance in habitat evaluation.
Socio-Economic Studies Economic valuation is a powerful tool to aid and improve wise use and management of global wetland resources by providing a means for measuring and comparing various benefits from wetlands (Barbier et al. 1997). Wetlands perform numerous valuable functions, which include flood control, ground water recharge, waste management and offering habitats and breeding grounds for numerous water birds, fishes, crustaceans and other aquatic life form (Azeez et al. 2000, Prasad et al. 2002). The ecological state or health of a wetland apart from attitude of the people / stakeholders depends on its management, level of anthropogenic activities, solid waste collection and disposal, land use in the catchment and disposal of used water . Perhaps as the first such attempt during 1995, Mathew et al. attempted to assessing the economic utilities of Ukkadam Lake and documented the dependance of several communities on the lake. The services utilised then included grazing by the Kuruba kaunder community, fishing by the Seviyar community in addition to agricultural
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use and harvesting of fodder grass by the natives of Coimbatore. In recent years, Shankar (2012) attempted to evaluate the ecosystem services provided by the Ukkadam Lake. Although the study was not conceived as an extensive one using standard methods to evaluate ecosystem services, the author has attempted to look at the use of the wetland for agriculture, water source and fishery using a questionnaire. The survey reveals that the lake is now only used by the fishers for their sustenance while the direct dependence on the lake for agriculture and water has long been discontinued. Urbanisation and anthropogenic stress to meet the growing urbanisation needs of Coimbatore City is reported to be the major threat that has resulted in the disappearance of wetlands, which has led to the disturbance of the hydrological flow regime of the Noyyal River.
Conservation Awareness and Media As human beings, we have significant impacts on the environment and its resources. The existence of the wetlands in Coimbatore city is being endangered due to rapid urbanisation and lack of awareness among the citizens. Environmental Education (EE) seems to be the best tool for providing the public with an understanding of the ramifications of their actions and behaviour patterns in order to increase sensitivity and concern on environmental issues. EE is a continued learning process that builds up people's knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, and foster attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action [UNESCO (Tbilisi Declaration 1977) 1978]. The term EE is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to postsecondary. It is also sometimes used more broadly to include all efforts to educate the public and other audiences, including print materials, websites, media campaigns, etc. Related disciplines include outdoor education and experimental education. Coimbatore city has its fair share of awareness generation, activism and conservation programs that are organised by several Non Government Organisations and research organisations in association with the education institutions. However, there is no documentation or statistics available on activities and the outcomes of the outreach programs. Hence, to have an understanding of the possible awareness level we tried to look at the articles published by the press as an indicator for social awareness. We selected two English News dailies namely 'The Hindu'(Figure 2) and 'The Times of India' (Figure 3) to find the number of articles published on issues related to the Coimbatore lakes from 2011 until March 2014. We found both the newspapers giving fair coverage to the environmental issues. Among the two the Hindu had a higher percentage covering topics of Coimbatore wetlands. The coverage mainly
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News Articles from Coimbatore Wetlands
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included news items on awareness programs, bird diversity and sightings, pollution and encroachment problems and the conservation actions undertaken by NGOs, Government bodies or Institutions and academics as well as the role of the media in disseminating such information. We found that the major emphasis of the media coverage was on birds and awareness activities conducted during the environment day celebrations and the cleaning of the city lakes involving NGOs, Civil society organisations and individuals. Figure 2: Articles Covering Coimbatore Lake News in the Hindu daily
Numbers
Numbers
On the conservation front, the PWD for Coimbatore region has been diligent in trying to maintain the Coimbatore lakes for over the past 90 years, despite various pressures of urbanisation and other growing human activities around the lakes. The changing land use pattern and human needs, and chang es in management strategy by the concerned authorities caused a News Types change in the guardians of the city lakes from the PWD to the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation. The municipal corporation proposed a Rs 128/- crore renovation plan for eight of the city lakes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission and invited various government bodies, organisations such as SACON, NGOs and the stakeholders for a public consultation during 2009 to 2010 (Gunasekaran 2011, Mohan Raj 2011). The consultations resulted in turning down the proposal for various reasons and highlighted the concern of the public for conservation of the city lakes. Subsequently, there have been a couple of meetings, conferences and seminars, thwhich thdiscussed the issues related to these wetlands. One of the symposia held during 24 & 25 January 2012 with involvement of several NGOs from Coimbatore, Animal Rescuers and WWF in collaboration with SACON, deliberated upon the issues and the road map for ecological sustainable management of the Coimbatore wetlands. Here probably for the first time for the city an evaluation on the understanding and knowledge of Coimbatore wetlands was conducted, which was followed with a field visit to the city wetlands to generate Figure 3: Articles Covering Coimbatore Lake News in the awareness among the Times of India daily masses to highlight the need for conservation for the future.
News Types
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Our Recent Survey on Flora and Birds (Inputs by Dr S Babu and Dr M Mahendiran) Further to our survey and analysis of the available literature on the wetlands of Coimbatore city, we considered it necessary to conduct a preliminary survey around the eight lakes of the city. Hence, during the months of December 2013 and January 2014 we made some visits with the purpose of documenting the present condition of the lakes. In this process, we documented the birds, interacted with the local community living around the lakes and made cursory notes on the vegetation around the lakes. Barring the works on the flora along the Noyyal River and adjoining six lakes (Chandrabose and Nair 1988) and Shankar (2012) on the vegetation around Ukkadam Lake there has been no attempt to systematically document the vegetation of and along the Coimbatore city wetlands. Our visits to the lakes although brief are probably the first to focus on understanding the vegetation around the eight city lakes. We could record 30 species representing 18 families and 15 orders (Table 6); the maximum diversity was recorded at Ukkadam followed by Singanallur Lake while the minimum diversity was noted at Narasampathy Lake. However, we are of the opinion that more intensive systematic vegetation studies will reveal higher diversity along the other wetlands like Valankulam, Singanallur, Selvachintamani and Krishnampathy due to the presence of rich vegetative cover. In the lakes in the city, birds, probably well recorded if for only a few lakes, total up to 133 species. During our visits to the lakes, we followed the standard total count method (Bibby et al. 2000) to document birds during 0600 to 1000 hours and 1600 to 1800 hours. We recorded 71 species belonging to 35 families and 14 orders (Table 7). Among the 14 orders, Passeriformes dominated with 18 species followed by Ciconiiformes and Charadriiformes with 10 species each followed by the other families. This included four species (Spot billed Pelican, Painted Stork, Oriental Darter and Oriental White Ibis) of globally threatened birds. From the 71 species recorded 36 (50%) were wetland species, 26 terrestrial (36%) species and 10 (14%) wetland dependant species. Despite the location of the lakes amidst bustling city, the wetland and the wetland dependant species were dominant. Maximum number of species was in Ukkadam Lake followed by Selvampathy Lake, and Singanallur Lake while the number was lowest at Valankulam Lake. We attribute the lack of bird diversity at Valankulam to several human centric factors that include the development activities like flyover, railway track and other human encroachments. Coimbatore, a fast growing and busy city, however with large number of bird species occupying its wetlands, indicates the availability of resources and habitat, and non-availability of appropriate habitats elsewhere in the nearby surroundings. Of the 71 species, which we recorded during a brief field survey, seven species (three wetland and four terrestrial bird species) are new additions to the existing list of 133 birds recorded earlier from these wetlands making a tally of 141 bird species. During our interactions with the locals, we realised several aspects of the wetlands; for instance, all the wetlands had active religious structures such as temples, church or mosque on the banks. The small temples where there were only the deities in place, according to the local people had myths associated to their presence there. We felt that a more detailed and systematic study on this aspect could lead to participatory conservation of the lakes. The local community informed us of the fishing practices that were undertaken along all the lakes, which varied in duration from a few days, as in Krishnampathy Lake, to year round
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fishing under fishing societies as in the case of Ukkadam, Singanallur and Kumaraswamy Lakes. When enquired about any conflicts with the fisher folk we were informed of their close association with the birds, as they would help them in actually locating the fish movement. The main problems of the wetlands and the fish catch according to the locals were the release of polluted waters that killed the introduced fish seeds causing major losses to the fishers. They expressed their displeasure at the bunds constructed and the cleaning process that had affected their catch substantially. Another problem faced by the fisher folk was related with the increasing urbanisation and encroachment along the lakes, and the increasing number of individuals involved in game fishery suggesting that the matter need to be addressed on priority.
Status of the Lakes Based on the Wetland Rules 2010 The Government of India in exercise of the powers conferred by the Environment Protection Act, 1986 made certain rules for conservation and management of wetlands namely the Wetland Rules 2010. The Wetlands Rules (2010) comprise the definition wetlands, the different categories of wetlands, the restrictions on activities within the wetlands, constitution of the wetland regulatory authority, process for identification of wetlands, overlapping provisions, enforcement of regulated activities and appeals against the decision of the wetland authority. We tried to assess the status of the Coimbatore city wetlands in the context of these rules. We have identified some of the concerns and observed that in all the eight existing city wetlands the rules have been violated, more specifically the section 4 subsection 1 and a few rules from the subsection 2 of the rules (Annexure II). Wetland Rules 2010 Section 4 Sub section 1.i - reclamation of wetlands Sub section1.iii - manufacture or handling or storage or disposal of hazardous substances covered under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 Sub section1.iv - solid waste dumping Sub section 1.v - discharge of untreated wastes and effluents from industries, cities or towns and other human settlements Sub section 1.vi - any construction of a permanent nature except for boat jetties within fifty metres from the mean high flood level observed in the past ten years calculated from the date of commencement of these rules Sub section 1.vii - Any other activity likely to have an adverse impact on the ecosystem of the wetland to be specified in writing by the Authority constituted in accordance with these rules. Sub section 2.i - withdrawal of water or the impoundment, diversion or interruption of water sources within the local catchment area of the wetland ecosystems Subsection 2.iv - Treated effluent discharges from industries, cities or towns, human settlements and agricultural fields falling within the limits laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board or the State Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be ;
Violations in the city lakes Krishnampathy lake, Selvachintamani lake, Ukkadam and Valankulam lake Indirect evidences from the literature of occurrences of heavy metals and other pollutants (Studies conducted by Suresh 2012, Maharajan 2012, and Chitra et al. 2013). Moreover, all the lakes have several factories that deal with hazardous chemicals nearby. Recent solid waste dumping, construction debris, construction of bunds along all the eight city lakes All the city lakes have sewage and industria l outlets, which are interconnected to each other, finally leading to the Noyyal river. In addition, a growth in the hutments all along the city lakes has increased the effluent load. Several recent constructions along the Selvampathy, Kumarasamy, Selvachintamani , Ukkadam, Valankulam and Singanallur lakes.
Some of the lakes have high-tension electric lines and pylons line that crisscross the lakes affecting the bird diversity and bird activity. Several recent instances where the Krishnampathy and Valankulam lakes of being impounded impacting the natural ecosystem function The Coimbatore city is yet to have a have a functional sewage treatment plant fully covering the city. Hence, the sewage directly is released into the water bodies without any concern of the pollution.
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Conclusions and Recommendations It is evident that cultural eutrophication (i.e. human induced) is an important environmental problem that the city water bodies are now facing. While the literature informs us about the importance and status of the lakes in Coimbatore city, it also highlights the gaps in the information base. So far, no long-term studies as well as research covering different taxonomic groups like amphibians and reptiles associated with the wetlands have been undertaken. It would be appropriate that the ecosystem services and economic benefits of the Coimbatore wetlands are to be evaluated undertaking a comprehensive multi-institutional study. For the wetlands in the city have to be conserved and managed, academicians, policy and decision makers and the citizens should work in unison. The Wetland Rules (2010) and the Tamil Nadu protection of tanks and eviction of encroachment act (2007) should be employed in a manner that the lakes can be sustainably managed. This will involve wider participation from the society, which can be a herculean task to set, but easy once starts moving. Visionary clean governance would help in striking the balance between development and environment and making Coimbatore city a model for sustainable conservation and management of the urban wetlands. Some of the immediate actions to benefit the wetlands are as given below 1. Effectively and visibly demarcate the lake boundaries; however, the bunds made for the purpose should be designed in such a way that they are green and stable. Slipping bunds are damaging to the rejuvenating lakes. 2. Bird attracting and native species of trees may be planted along the bunds or in the mounts in the lakes. 3. Control encroachment activities along the lakes, and move out and rehabilitate those who have lived in the encroachments for years. 4. Stop the dumping of garbage and other solid waste into the wetlands. The Municipal Corporation should remove the municipal garbage / solid waste dumped there already. That would assist in rejuvenation of the lake basins. 5. Sanitation facilities detached from the wetlands need to be established for the people who are living in the close by shanties and slums and control public easing themselves on the banks of the wetlands which is the leading cause for high faecal pathogens in the water. 6. Appoint local watch and ward personal to report violations immediately to the authorities for immediate actions. 7. Involve local NGOs and other academic / research organisations in designing plans for ecological rejuvenation of the lakes. In consultation with the above, a plan for each wetland may be developed, the execution of which could be sponsored by corporate or other agencies perhaps under their respective CSR schemes. 8. Totally ban the release of effluents and sewage into the wetlands. 9. The Municipal Corporation of Coimbatore should take measures at installing the sewage / effluent treatment plants to tackle the sewage/effluent generated by the city. 10. Make the industries responsible to the effluents generated by making it mandatory to pay for the treatment of their effluents. 11. Cleaning of the lakes should be undertaken in a scientific manner after understanding the ecology and characteristics of the individual lakes. 12. The community and the fishers living around the lakes are presently the unofficial guardians of the lakes. These individuals' attempts should be recognised and a collective system should be designed for their role in management of the lakes. 13. Introduction of exotic floral and faunal species should be prohibited.
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W.B. Saunders Company. Philadelphia. pp. 574 Orapim C. (2012) Radiation levels from cell – phone towers and bird assemblages at select urban lakes of Coimbatore. Department of Environmental Impact Assessment, Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore Parvathi C. (2011) Impact assessment of watershed intervention technology on selected farm households in Coimbatore district. Ph.D. Thesis. Avinashilingam Deemed University For Women. pp. 238 Prabhadevi V., Kamala V. and Venkatramani B. (2011)Study on the site-wise distribution of water birds at Point Calimere. in Bhupathy S., Prusty B.A.K., Kumara H.N., Jayaraj R.S.C., Quadros G. and Pramod P. (eds) Status of Indian Birds and their Conservation. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Indian Ornithology, SACON, Coimbatore. pp.. 186-187. Pragatheesh A. and Pushp Jain (2013) Environmental Degradation of the Coimbatore Wetlands in the Noyyal River Basin, EIA Resource and Response Centre (ERC), Nilgiri, Tamil Nadu, India. Published by LIFE. pp 57 Pramod P. (2011) Birds of Coimbatore wetlands: Report of the survey conducted on 12th January 2011 Prasad S.N., Ramachandran T.V., Ahalya N., Sengupta T., Kumar A., Tiwari A.K., Vijayan V.S. and Vijayan L. (2002) Conservation of wetlands of India: A review. Tropical Ecology. 43 (1): 173-186 Priya K..L., Gabriela J., Lizia Thankam G., Sophia A.T. and Mathew M. (2011) Monitoring the Pollution Intensity of Wetlands of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Nature Environment and Pollution Technology. An International Quarterly Scientific Journal, 10(3): 447-454 Public Works Department (2001) Environmental status of the River Noyyal Basin. Government of Tamil Nadu Quadros G. (1995) Study of hydrological parameters of Thane creek. M.Sc., Dissertation. University of Mumbai. pp. 201 Quadros G., Gauri G., Kaustubh B., Alok C., Aniruddha D., Kashmira K. and Manoj N. (2009) Report of the Study of the Biodiversity of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Campus. WWF-India, MSO. pp.158 Rachna C., Nishadh K.A. and Azeez P.A. (2010) Monitoring water quality of Coimbatore wetlands, Tamil Nadu, India. Environ Monit Assess. 169: 671-676 Rajalingam M. (2011) Heavy metal Concentration in Abiotic and Biotic Component in Ukkadam and Kurichi Tank of the River Noyyal Basin. M.Sc., Dissertation. Government Arts College, Coimbatore Rajashekariah K. (2011) Impact of Urbanisation on Biodiversity: Case studies from India. WWF-India. pp. 48 Rashmi C. (2004) Studies on some freshwater Gastropods (Phyllum: Mollusca) of Singanallur Lake, Coimbatore. Ph.D., Thesis. Kongunadu Arts & Science College, Coimbatore Saikia P.K. and Saikia M.K. (2011) Deepor Beel Ramsar site in Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot: Management perspectives for avian population conservation and enrichment. in Bhupathy S., Prusty B.A.K., Kumara H.N., Jayaraj R.S.C., Quadros G. and Pramod P. (eds) Status of Indian Birds and their Conservation. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Indian Ornithology, SACON, Coimbatore. pp. 130-132 Sakthivadivel R., Gomathinayagam P. and Tushaar S. (2004) Rejuvenating irrigation tanks through local institutions, Economic and Political Weekly, pp 3521-3526 Sawyer C.N., McCarty P.L. and Parkin G.F. (2003) Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science. 5th Ed New York : McGraw Hill SCBD. (2010) Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity: Montreal, Canada Schulz E.J., Hoyer M.V. and Canfield D.E. (1999) An index of biotic integrity: A test with Limnological and Fish data from sixty Florida lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 128: 564-577 Senguttuvan M. (2003) Studies on the Biolog y and nutritive value of Channa punctatus and C. Straiatus (Pisces: Channaidae) in Ukkadam Lake, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Ph.D., Thesis. Department of Zoology, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore. Senthilnathan S. and Azeez P.A. (1999)a. Heavy metals concentration in the water of river Noyyal, Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India.
33 33
International Workshop on environmental impacts of metals, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Soil Contamination Research in Asia and Pacific, Australia. Senthilnathan S. and Azeez P.A. (1999)b. Influence of dyeing and bleaching industries on ground water of Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 62: 330-335 Senthilnathan S. and Azeez P.A. (1999)c. Water quality of effluents from dyeing and bleaching industries in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Industrial Pollution and Control. 15:77-86 Shanthi K., Ramasamy K. and Lakshmanaperumalsamy P. (2003. Sediment quality of Singanallur Wetland in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 70: 372-378 Shankar A.G. (2012) Socio–Ecological Assessment and Sustainable Management of An Urban Wetland Ecosystem: A Case Study of Ukkadam Big Tank, Coimbatore. MBA Dissertation, Department of Environmental Management, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli Sharma S. (2013) Development of heronries in urban landscape of Jabalpur city. in Jayapal R., Babu S., Quadros G., Arun P.R., Pramod P., Kumara H.N. and Azeez P.A. (eds) Ecosystem Services and Functions of Birds. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indian Ornithology, SACON, Coimbatore. pp. 200 Sivakumar R. and Azeez P.A. (1999) Water Pollution in Tirupur. The Hindu Science & Technology Sivakumar R., Mohan Raj R. and Azeez P.A. (1996) Pollution status of river Noyyal at Tirupur, I Indian Ecological Congress, 27th–31st December1996, New Delhi Somani V.U. (2002) Ecological studies on Kacharali and Masunda Lakes of Thane City with reference to bacterial treatment of Kacharali for lake beautification. pp 242 Srivastava A., Ravi Kr Gupta V., Agarwal G., Srivastava S. and Singh I. (2011) Water Quality Assessment of Ramganga River at Moradabad by Physico-Chemical Parameters Analysis. VSRD-TNTJ. 2(3): 119-127 Suresh M. (2012) Residues of Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments and fishes collected from select wetlands of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Department of Zoology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore Tamil Nadu protection of tanks and eviction of encroachment act (2007) Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary. pp. 33-35 TEEB. (2013) TEEB for Water and Wetlands. Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) & Ramsar Secretariat, London and Brussels. (Available online from: http://www.teebtest.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/TEEB_Water Wetlands_Report_2013.pdf) Thangavelu A. (2006) Distribution of select nutrient elements in Coimbatore wetland sediments. M.Sc., Dissertation. Department of Environmental Science, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore The Environment (Protection) Act. (1986) Ministry of Environment and Forests. Department of Environment, Forest and Wildlife. Government of India Thiyagesan K. and Nagrajan R. (1995) Impacts of development projects on the wetlands in two coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Asian wetland News. 8: 8 Trivedy R.K. and Goel P.K. (1984) Chemical and biological methods for water pollution studies. Environmental Publications. Karad. pp. 181 Twiley R.R., Rivera-Monroy V.H., Chen R. and Botero L. (1998) Adapting on Ecological mangrove model to stimulate trajectories in restoration ecology. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 37(8-12): 404-419 UNESCO (1978) The Tbilisi Declaration. Connect the UNESCO/UNEP Environmental Education Newsletter. Vol. 3(1) Vijayan L., Prasad S.N., Sridharan N. and Gupta M.B. (2006) Status of wetlands and wetland birds in Tamil Nadu. Research Report. Vijayan V.S., Narendra Prasad S., Lalitha V. and Muralidharan S. (2004) Inland wetlands of India: Conservation Priorities. SACON. pp. 532 Rajiv P., Hasna Abdul Salam, Kamaraj M., Rajeshwari S. and Balaji R. (2012) Comparative Physicochemical and Microbial Analysis of Various Pond Waters in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India. Annals of Biological Research. 3(7): 3533-3540 Wetland Rules-2010 (2011) The Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II - Section 3 - Subsection (I), Government of India Press, New Delhi WHO (1997) World Health Organisation Guidelines for drinking water quality (Vol. 1) recommendations. Geneva
Website References www.coimbatoreforests.org www.coimbatorewetlands.org www.discoverwild.in www.ecgmdia.org www.arulagam.org www.siruthuli.com http://moef.nic.in
34
Annexure I: Tables Table 2. Water quality parameters and the heavy metals studied by several researchers for the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore Lake* → References → Parameters ↓ Color Temp (°C) pH Oxidation reduction potential (mV) EC (µS/cm) DO (mg/L) BOD (mg/L) COD (mg/L) TDS (mg/L) Total hardness (mg/L) Calcium hardness (mg/L) Magnesium hardness (mg/L) Chloride (mg/L) Salinity (mg/L) Alkalinity mg/L) Phosphate (mg/L) Sulphate (mg/L) Ammonia (mg/L) Nitrite (mg/L) Sodium (mg/L) Potassium (mg/L) Lithium (mg/L) Ammonia nitrogen (mg/L) Nitrate Nitrogen (mg/L) Water Quality Index Heavy metals (ìg/L) Cu Zn Ni Pb Cd Cr Fe Mn As
NP 1&2 Range Brownish to Black 21 to 28 6 to 10 75 to 80 210 to 9650 0.6 to 6.5 1.8 to 44 4 to 673 150 to 9233 70 to 560 21 to 490 7 to 250 0.7 to 1479 122 to 1455 85 to 730 0.6 to 10 33 to 466 0.2 to 15 0.09 to 0.1 15 to 3354 6 to 430 0.4 to 21 0.09 to 3.3 0.1 to 48 52 to 60 6 to 177 17 to 493 5 to 25 2.5 to 375 0.5 to 10 29.8 to 387 0.3 to 8020 54 to 1260 35 to 58
KP 2
SP 2&3
KU 1, 2, 3 &4
SC 2, 3&5
UD 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10&13
VK 2, 3&5
SN 2, 4, 11&12
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
+
+
+
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
References - (1) Priya et al. 2011, (2) Maharajan 2012, (3) Mohanraj et al. 2000, (4) Kevin John 2013, (5) Mannivannan et al. 2013,(6) Lalitha et al. 2007, (7) Deivanayaki 2007, (8) Nishadh 2009, (9) Rachna et al. 2010, (10) Rajiv et al. 2012, (11) Azeez et al. 1998,(12) Dhanalakshmi 2008, (13) Mathew et al. 1995 Table 3. Sediment quality and the sediment heavy metals studied by several researchers for the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore Lake* → References → Sediment Parameters pH EC (millimhos) Chloride (mg/g) Alkalinity (as CaCO3 mg/g) Calcium (as CaCO3 mg/g) Magnesium (as CaCO3 mg/g) TOC (mg/g) Phosphate (mg/g) Sulphate (mg/g) Sodium (mg/g) Potassium (mg/g) Available nitrogen (mg/g) Total Nitrogen % Heavy Metals Cu (µg/g) Zn (µg/g) Ni (µg/g) Pb (µg/g) Cd (µg/g) Cr (µg/g) Fe (µg/g) Mn (µg/g)
NP -
KP -
SP -
KU -
SC 1&2
VK 1&2
+ + + + + + + + + + + + -
UD 1, 2&3 + + + + + + + + + + + + -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + -
SN 1, 2, 3&4 + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Range 7 to 10 1 to 1450 11 to 25 1.7 to 3 0.5 to 92 0.1 to 22 0.5 to 9 0.2 to 1.2 2 to 5 0.3 to 2 0.4 to 1.2 160 to 405 0.01 to 0.03
-
-
-
-
9.3 to 25 63 to 168 3.5 to 51 0.04 to 9 0.04 to 0.25 10 to 16 25 to 1180 315 to 377
-
-
-
-
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
References - (1) Mathew et al. 2002, (2) Mathew et al. 2003, (3) Kevin John 2013, (4) Shathi et al. 2003 *NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur
35 35
Table 4. The flora studied by several researchers for the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore Lake* → References → Scientific Name Type Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Amaranthaceae Alternanthera pungens Kunth Creeper Alternanthera paronychioides A.St.-Hil. Herb Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R.Br. ex DC. Herb Amaranthus viridis L. Herb Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Aizoaceae Trianthema portulacastrum L. Herb Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Chenopodiaceae Chenopodium album Herb Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Nyctaginaceae Boerhavia diffusa L. Herb Boerhavia chinensis (L.) Rottb. Herb Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Portulacaceae Portulaca oleracea L. Herb Order: Poales; Family: Poaceae Arundo donax L. Shrub Cenchrus ciliaris L. Shrub Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Herb Ischaemum ciliare Retz. Herb Paspalum scrobiculatum L. Herb Paspalum conjugatum P. J. Bergius Herb Paspalum distichum L. Herb Echinochloa colona (L.) Link Herb Eragrostrissp. Herb Paspalidium punctatum (Burm.) A. Camus Herb Saccharum spontaneum L. Herb Order: Poales; Family: Cyperaceae Cyperus difformis L. Herb Cyperus rotundus L. Herb Cyperus pangorei Rottb. Aquatic Plant Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb. Herb Order: Poales; Family: Typhaceae Typha angustifolia L. Shrub Order: Gentianales; Family: Apocynaceae Calotropis gigantea (L.) Dryand. Shrub Order: Ceratophyllales; Family: Ceratophyllaceae Ceratophyllum sp. Aquatic Plant Order: Commelinales; Family: Pontederiaceae Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms Aquatic Plant Order: Cucurbitales; Family: Cucurbitaceae Cucumis melo L. Herb Cucumis pepo Herb Cucumis sativus L. Herb Luffa acutangula (L) Herb Order: Solanales; Family: Convolvulaceae Ipomoea Carnea Jacq. Shrub Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. Shrub Order: Solanales; Family: Solanaceae Physalis angulata L. Herb Datura innoxia Mill. Herb Datura metel L. Herb Order: Alismatales; Family: Hydrocharitaceae Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle Aquatic Plant Vallisneria sp. Aquatic Plant
NP KP SP -
38
KU 1&2
SC -
UD 2, 3, 4&5
VK 1&3
SN 2, 3, 6, 7&8
-
-
-
-
-
+ + + +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+ -
-
+ + + + + + + + + +
-
+ + + -
-
-
-
-
-
+ + +
-
+ + -
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
+ + + +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
+ +
+ +
-
-
-
-
-
+ + +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ -
-
+ +
Table 4. Continued Lake* → References → Scientific Name Type Order: Alismatales; Family: Araceae Lemna minor L. Aquatic Plant Lemna perpusilla Torr. Aquatic Weed Pistia stratiotes L. Aquatic Plant Wolfia sp. Aquatic Plant Order: Alismatales; Family: Potamogetonaceae Potamogeton nodosus Poir. Aquatic Plant Order: Alismatales; Family: Alismataceae Sagittaria sagittifolia L. Herb Limnophyton obtusifolium (L.) Miq. Aquatic Plant Order: Lamiales; Family: Verbenaceae Lippia nodiflora (L.) Greene Herb Lantana indica Roxb. Herb Order: Asterales; Family: Asteraceae Parthenium hysterophorus L. Herb Xanthium indicum Herb Order: Violales; Family: Passifloraceae Passiflora calcarata Mast. Climbing Shrub Passiflora foetida L. Climbing Shrub Order: Zygophyllales; Family: Zygophyllaceae Tribulus terrestris L. Herb Order: (unplaced); Family: Boraginaceae Heliotropium indicum L. Herb Order: Fabales; Family: Fabaceae Parkinsonia aculeata L. Tree Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile Tree Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. Tree Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. Tree Order: Brassicales; Family: Capparidaceae Gynandropsis gynandra L. Herb Cleome chelidonii L. f. Herb Order: Malpighiales; Family: Euphorbiaceae Chrozophora rottleri (Geiseler) A. Juss. ex Spreng. Herb Croton bonplandianum Baill. Herb Ricinus communis L. Shrub Kirganelia reticulatus Poir. Herb Order: Malvales; Family: Malvaceae Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet Herb Malachra capitata (L.) L. Herb Order: Malvales; Family: Tiliaceae Corchorus olitorius L. Herb Order: Nymphaeales; Family: Nymphaeaceae Nymphaea nouchali Burm. f. Aquatic Plant Nymphaea pubescens Willd. Aquatic Plant Order: Proteales; Family: Nelumbonaceae Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. Aquatic Plant Total
NP KP SP -
KU 1&2
SC -
UD 2, 3, 4&5
VK 1&3
SN 2, 3, 6, 7&8
-
-
-
-
-
+ + + -
+ -
+ + +
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+ -
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
+ -
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
+ -
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+ -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ + + +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ + + +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
-
0
0
0
2
0
+ 59
4
24
*NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur References - (1) Jayalakshmi et al. 2006, (2) Kevin John 2013, (3) Bubesh 2006, (4) Arun Shankar 2012, (5) Mathew et al. 1995,(6) Dhanalakshmi 2008, (7) Karthick et al. 2009, (8) Thangavelu 2006
39 39
Table 5. Fish studied by several researchers for the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore Lake* References
→ →
NP 1
KP -
SP 1
Scientific Name Order: Cypriniformes; Family: Cyprinidae Catla catla + Cirrhinus mrigala Ctenopharyngodon idella + Cyprinus carpio + Hypophthalmichthys molitrix + Labeo rohita + + Barbodes carnaticus Haludaria fasciata Devario aequnipinnatus Barilius bendelisis Order: Perciformes; Family: Channidae Channa punctata Channa striata + Channa orientalis Order: Perciformes; Family: Cichlidae Oreochromis nilotica + + Oreochromis mossambica Etroplus suratensis Order: Perciformes; Family: Ambassidae Parambassis ranga Order: Siluriformes; Family: Siluridae Wallago attu Ompok bimaculatus Order: Siluriformes; Family: Bagridae Mystus seenghala Mystus keletius Total 5 0 4
KU 2&3
SC -
UD 1, 2, 3, 4, 5&6
VK 2
SN 1
+ + + -
-
+ + + + + + + + + +
-
+ -
+ + -
-
+ + +
-
+ + -
+ -
-
+ + +
+ -
+ -
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
+ +
-
-
6
0
+ + 21
1
4
*NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur References - (1) Suresh 2012, (2) Chitra et al. 2013, (3) Arun Shankar 2012, (4) Senguttuvan 2003, (5) Ezhili 2008, (6) Mathew et al. 1995
36
Table 6. The avifauna studied by several researchers for the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore
Lake Authors Family ↓ Order: Podicipediformes Podicipedidae Order: Pelecaniformes Pelecanidae
→ →
NP 1&2
KP 1&2
SP 1&2
KU 1&2
SC 1&2
UD 1, 2, 3, 4&5
VK 1, 3, 4&6
SN 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 8
LC
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
NT LC LC LC LC
+ + + + +
+ + +
+ + + +
+ + + +
+ -
+ + + + +
+ + + + +
+ + + + +
+ + + + + + -
+ + + + + + -
+ + + + + -
+ + + + + + -
+ + + + -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + -
+ + + + + + + + + -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
LC
+ -
+ -
+ -
+ -
-
+ + + + +
+ + + -
+ + + + + + + -
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC
+ + -
+ + + -
+ + -
+ + -
+ + -
+ + + + -
+ + + +
+ + + + + +
Grey Francolin Indian Peafowl
LC LC
-
-
-
-
-
+ -
-
+ +
Turnix sylvatica Amaurornis phoenicurus Porzana parva Porzana fusca Gallicrex cinerea Porphyrio porphyrio Gallinula chloropus Fulica atra
Small Buttonquail White breasted Waterhen Little Crake Ruddy-breasted Crake Water Cock Purple Moorhen Common Moorhen Common Coot
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + + +
+ + +
+ + + + +
+ + + +
+ + + + + + + +
Hydrophasianus chirurgus Metopidius indicus Pluvialis squatarola Charadrius dubius Charadrius alexandrinus Vanellus malabaricus Vanellus indicus Limosa limosa Tringa stagnatilis Tringa glareola Actitis hypoleucos Calidris minuta Himantopus himantopus Sterna hirundo Sterna acuticauda
Pheasant tailed Jacana Bronze winged Jacana Grey Plover Little Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Yellow-wattled Lapwing Red wattled Lapwing Black-tailed Godwit Marsh Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Little Stint Black-winged Stilt Common Tern Black-bellied Tern
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC NT LC LC LC LC LC LC LC
+ + -
+ + + -
+ + + + -
+ + + -
+ -
+ + + + + + + + + -
+ + + + + + + -
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
Columbidae
Columba livia Streptopelia senegalensis Streptopelia chinensis
Blue Rock Pigeon Little Brown Dove Spotted Dove
LC LC LC
+ -
+ -
-
-
-
+ +
+ +
+ + +
Order: Psittaciformes Psittacidae Order: Cuculiformes
Psittacula krameri
Rose-ringed Parakeet
LC
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
+
Cuculidae
Clamator jacobinus Eudynamys scolopacea Centropus sinensis
Pied Crested Cuckoo Asian Koel Greater Coucal
LC LC LC
+
+ + +
+ +
+ +
-
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
Phalacrocoracidae Anhingidae Order: Ciconiiformes
Ardeidae
Ciconiidae
Threskiornithidae
Scientific Name
Common Name
Tachybaptus ruficollis
Little Grebe
Pelecanus philippensis Phalacrocorax niger Phalacrocorax fuscicollis Phalacrocorax carbo Anhinga melanogaster
Spot-billed Pelican Little Cormorant Indian Shag Great Cormorant Darter
Egretta garzetta Egretta gularis Ardea cinerea Ardea purpurea Casmerodius albus Mesophoyx intermedia Bubulcus ibis Ardeola grayii Nycticorax nycticorax Mycteria leucocephala Anastomus oscitans Ciconia episcopus Plegadis falcinellus Threskiornis melanocephalus Threskiornis aethiopica Platalea leucorodia
Little Egret Western Reef Heron Grey Heron Purple Heron Large Egret Median Egret Cattle Egret Indian Pond Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Painted Stork Asian Openbill-Stork White-necked Stork Glossy Ibis Black headed ibis White Ibis Eurasian Spoonbill
LC
Dendrocygna javanica Anas crecca Anas strepera Anas poecilorhyncha Anas clypeata Anas acuta Anas querquedula Anas penelope Nettapus coromandelianus
Lesser Whistling Duck Common Teal Gadwall Spot-billed Duck Northern Shoveller Northern Pintail Garganey Wigeon Cotton Teal
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC
Milvus migrans Haliastur indus Elanus caeruleus Spilornis cheela Circus aeruginosus Circus macrourus Circus melanoleucos Accipiter badius
Black Kite Brahminy Kite Blackwinged kite Crested Serpent-eagle Western Marsh-Harrier Pallid Harrier Pied Harrier Shikra
Francolinus pondicerianus Pavo cristatus
Category
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC NT LC LC LC NT LC LC
Order: Anseriformes
Anatidae
Order: Falconiformes
Accipitridae
Order: Galliformes Phasianidae Order: Gruiformes Turnicidae
Rallidae
Order: Charadriiformes Jacanidae
Charadriidae
Scolopacidae
Recurvirostridae Laridae Order: Columbiformes
41 41
Table 6. Continued Lake Authors Family ↓ Order: Strigiformes Tytonidae Strigidae Order: Apodiformes Apodidae
→ →
NP 1&2
KP 1&2
SP 1&2
KU 1&2
SC 1&2
UD 1, 2, 3, 4&5
VK 1, 3, 4&6
SN 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 8
LC LC
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
+ +
Asian Palm Swift House Swift
LC LC
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
Alcedo atthis Halcyon capensis Halcyon smyrnensis Ceryle rudis Merops orientalis Merops philippinus Merops leschenaulti Coracias benghalensis Upupa epops
Small Blue Kingfisher Stork-billed Kingfisher White-breasted Kingfisher Lesser Pied Kingfisher Small Bee-eater Blue-tailed Bee-eater Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Indian Roller Common Hoopoe
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC
+ + + + + -
+ + + + + -
+ + + + -
+ + + + -
+ + + -
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + -
+ + + + + + + + +
Megalaima haemacephala Dinopium benghalense
Coppersmith Barbet Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker
LC LC
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
+ +
Hirundo rustica Hirundo smithii Hirundo daurica Mirafra erythroptera Alauda arvensis Alauda gulgula Eremopterix grisea Galerida cristata Motacilla alba Motacilla maderaspatensis Motacilla flava Motacilla cinerea Anthus rufulus Tephrodornis pondicerianus Pycnonotus jocosus Pycnonotus cafer Lanius schach Lanius cristatus Saxicoloides fulicata Saxicola torquata Saxicola caprata Turdoides affinis Cisticola juncidis Prinia socialis Prinia inornata Acrocephalus agricola Acrocephalus dumetorum Acrocephalus stentoreus Orthotomus sutorius Phylloscopus trochiloides Sylvia hortensis Terpsiphone paradisi Dicaeum erythrorhynchos Nectarinia zeylonica Nectarinia asiatica Lonchura striata Lonchura punctulata Lonchura malacca Passer domesticus Ploceus philippinus Sturnus roseus Acridotheres tristis Oriolus oriolus Oriolus xanthornus Dicrurus macrocercus Dendrocitta vagabunda Corvus splendens Corvus macrorhynchos
Common Swallow Wire-tailed Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Red-winged Bush-Lark Eurasian Skylark Skylark Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark Crested Lark White Wagtail Large Pied Wagtail Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Paddyfield Pipit Common Woodshrike Red-whiskered Bulbul Red-vented Bulbul Rufous-backed Shrike Brown Shrike Indian Robin Common Stonechat Pied Bushchat White-headed Babbler Streaked Fantail-Warbler Ashy Prinia Plain Prinia Paddyfield Warbler Blyth's Reed Warbler Indian Great Reed Warbler Common Tailor Bird Greenish Leaf Warbler Orphean Warbler Asian Paradise Flycatcher Tickell’s Flowerpecker Purple rumped Sunbird Purple Sunbird White-rumped Munia Spotted Munia Black-headed Munia House Sparrow Baya Weaver Rosy Starling Common Myna Eurasian Golden Oriole Black-headed Oriole Black Drongo Indian Treepie House Crow Jungle Crow
LC
+ + + + + + + + + + + 40
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 46
+ + + + + + + + + + 38
+ + + + + + + + + + 39
+ + + + + + + + + + 27
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 77
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 69
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 121
Scientific Name
Common Name
Tyto alba Athene brama
Barn Owl Spotted Owlet
Cypsiurus balasiensis Apus affinis
Category
Order: Coraciiformes Alcedinide
Meropidae Coraciidae Upupidae Order: Piciformes Capitonidae Picidae Order: Passeriformes Hirundinidae
Alaudidae
Motacillidae
Campephagidae Pycnonotidae Laniidae Muscicapidae Timaliinae
Sylviidae
Monarchinae Dicaeidae Nectariniidae Estrildidae Passerinae Ploceinae Sturnidae Oriolidae Dicruridae Corvidae
LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC Total
*NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur References - (1) Orapim 2012, (2) Maharajan 2012, (3) Bubesh 2006, (4) Deivanayaki 2007, (5) Mathew et al. 1995, (6) Kavitha et al. 2011, (7) Reginald et al. 2007, (8) Dhanalakshmi 2008
42
Table 7. The flora observed during our recent study on the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore
Scientific Name Type Order: Arecales; Family: Arecaceae Borassus flabelliformis L Tree Order: Asterales; Family: Asteraceae Parthenium Hysterophorus L. Herb Order: Commelinales; Family: Pontederiaceae Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms. Aquatic Herb Order: Caryophyllales; Family: Amaranthaceae Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. Herb Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson Herb Celosia argentea L. Herb Gomphrena globosa L. Herb Order: Fabales; Family: Fabaceae Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile Tree Albizia saman (Jacq.) Merr. Tree Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) K. Heyne Tree Delonix regia (Hook.) Raf. Tree Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. Tree Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. Tree Tamarindus indica L. Tree Order: Gentianales; Family: Apocynaceae Calotropis gigantea (L.) Dryand. Shrub Order: Malpighiales; Family: Euphorbiaceae Ricinus communis L. Shrub Order: Malvales; Family: Malvaceae Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet Small Shrub Order: Nymphaeales; Family: Nymphaeaceae Nymphaea odorata Aiton Aquatic Herb Order: Poales; Family: Poaceae Phalaris arundinacea L. Herb Order: Poales; Family: Typhaceae Typha sp. Aquatic Herb Order: Rosales; Family: Moraceae Ficus religiosa L. Tree Order: Rosales; Family: Rhamnaceae Ziziphus jujuba Mill. Tree Order: Solanales; Family: Solanaceae Datura inoxia Mill. Herb Solanum lycopersicum L. Herb Solanum sp. Herb Solanum sp. Herb Order: Solanales; Family: Convolvulaceae Ipomoea sp. Erect Herb Order: Sapindales; Family: Meliaceae Azadirachta indica A. Juss. Tree Order: Zingiberales; Family: Cannaceae Canna indica L. Herb Order: Chroococcales; Family: Microcystaceae Microcystis sp. Algae Total
NP
KP
SP
KU
SC
UD
VK
SN
+
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
-
+ -
+ +
+ +
+ -
+ + + +
-
+ + +
+ -
+ -
+ + + -
+ + + -
+ -
+ + + + + +
+ -
+ + -
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+ +
+ + -
+ + -
-
+ +
-
+ +
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
5
9
+ 15
15
6
+ 23
5
+ 18
*NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur
37 37
Table 8. The Avifauna observed during our recent study on the eight urban lakes of Coimbatore Order Podicipediformes Pelecaniformes
Family Podicipedidae Pelecanidae Phalacrocoracidae Anhingidae
Ardeidae Ciconiiformes Ciconiidae Threskiornithidae
Anseriformes
Anatidae
Falconiformes
Accipitridae
Galliformes
Phasianidae
Gruiformes
Rallidae
Jacanidae Charadriidae Charadriformes Scolopacidae Recurvirostridae Laridae Columbiformes
Columbidae Psittacidae
Cuculiformes
Cuculidae
Strigiformes
Strigidae Alcedinidae
Coraciiformes
Piciformes
Meropidae Coraciidae Upupidae Capitonidae Hirundinidae Motacillidae Pycnonotidae Irenidae Timaliinae
Passeriformes Sylviinae Nectariniidae Estrildidae Sturnidae Corvidae
Scientific Name Tachybaptus ruficollis Pelecanus philippensis Phalacrocorax niger Phalacrocorax fuscicollis Anhinga melanogaster Egretta garzetta Ardea cinerea Ardea purpurea Casmerodius albus Mesophoyx intermedia Bubulcus ibis Ardeola grayii Mycteria leucocephala Anastomus oscitans Plegadis falcinellus Threskiornis melanocephalus Platalea leucorodia Dendrocygna javanica Anas poecilorhyncha Anas clypeata Anas acuta Anas querquedula Milvus migrans Haliastur indus Francolinus pondicerianus Pavo cristatus Amaurornispho enicurus Porphyrio porphyrio Gallinula chloropus Fulica atra Hydrophasianus chirurgus Metopidius indicus Charadrius dubius Vanellus indicus Tringa glareola Xenus cinereus Actitis hypoleucos Calidris minuta Himantopus himantopus Chlidonias hybridus Columba livia Streptopelia chinensis Psittacula krameri Hierococcyx varius Eudynamys scolopacea Centropus sinensis Athene brama Alcedo atthis Halcyon smyrnensis Ceryle rudis Merops philippinus Coracias benghalensis Upupa epops Megalaima haemacephala Hirundo rustica Motacilla maderaspatensis Motacilla flava Pycnonotus cafer Pycnonotus luteolus Aegithina tiphia Chloropsis aurifrons Turdoides affinis Prinia socialis Prinia inornata Acrocephalus dumetorum Orthotomus sutorius Nectarinia zeylonica Lonchura striata Acridotheres tristis Corvus splendens Corvus macrorhynchos
Common Name Little Grebe Spot-billed Pelican Little Cormorant Indian Shag Oriental Darter Little Egret Grey Heron Purple Heron Large Egret Median Egret Cattle Egret Indian Pond Heron Painted Stork Asian Openbill-Stork Glossy Ibis Black headed ibis Eurasian Spoonbill Lesser whistling Duck Spot-billed Duck Northern Shoveller Northern Pintail Garganey Black Kite Brahminy Kite Grey Francolin Indian Peafowl White breasted waterhen Purple Moorhen Common Moorhen Common Coot Pheasant tailed Jacana Bronze winged Jacana Little Ringed Plover Red wattled Lapwing Wood Sandpiper Terek Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Little Stint Black-winged Stilt Whiskered Tern Blue Rock Pigeon Spotted Dove Rose Ring Parakeet Brainfever Bird Asian Koel Greater Coucal Spotted Owlet Small Blue Kingfisher White-breasted kingfisher Lesser pied Kingfisher Blue-tailed Bee-eater Indian roller Common Hoopoe Coppersmith Barbet Common Swallow Large Pied Wagtail Yellow Wagtail Red-vented Bulbul White-browed bulbul Common Iora Gold-fronted Chloropsis White-headed babbler Ashy Prinia Plain Prinia Blyth's Reed Warbler Common Tailor Bird Purple rumped Sunbird White-rumped Munia Common Myna House Crow Jungle Crow
Category LC VU LC LC NT LC LC LC LC LC LC LC NT LC LC NT LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC Total
NP + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 16
KP + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 19
SP + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 29
KU + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 16
SC + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 23
UD + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 49
*NP- Narasampathy, KP-Krishnampathy, SP-Selvampathy, KU-Kumarasamy, SC-Selvachinthamani, UD-Ukkadam, VKValankulam, SN-Singanallur
40
VK + + + + + + + + + + + 11
SN + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 38
Annexure II
WHEREAS the wetlands, vital parts of the hydrological cycle, are highly productive, support exceptionally large biological diversity and provide a wide range of ecosystem services, such as waste assimilation, water purification, flood mitigation, erosion control, ground water recharge, microclimate regulation, aesthetic enhancement of the landscape while simultaneously supporting many significant recreational, social and cultural activities, besides being a part of the cultural heritage; AND WHEREAS many wetlands are seriously threatened by reclamation through drainage and landfill, pollution (discharge of domestic and industrial effluents, disposal of solid wastes), hydrological alterations (water withdrawal and inflow changes) and over exploitation of their natural resources resulting in loss of biodiversity and disruption in goods and services provided by wetlands; AND WHEREAS India is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and wise use of wetlands, which includes in its ambit a wide variety of habitats, such as rivers and lakes, coastal lagoons, mangroves, peatlands, coral reefs and numerous man-made wetlands, such as ponds, farm ponds, irrigated agricultural lands, sacred groves, saltpans, reservoirs, gravel pits, sewage farms and canals; AND WHEREAS the Central Government has identified certain wetlands for conservation and management under its conservation programme and provides financial and technical assistance to the State Governments and Union territory Administrations for various conservation activities through approval of the Management Action Plans; AND WHEREAS the National Environment Policy, 2006 recognises the ecological services provided by wetlands and emphasizes the need to set up a regulatory mechanism consistent with the Ramsar Convention to maintain the ecological character of the identified wetlands and develop a national inventory of such wetlands; NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 25, read with sub-section (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules for conservation and management of wetlands, namely:1. Short title and commencement: (1) These rules may be called the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette. 2. Definitions: (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) “Act” means the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); (b) “Authority” means the Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority constituted under rule 5; (c) “dredging' means an excavation activity or operation usually carried out at least partly underwater, in shallow sea or fresh water areas with the purpose of gathering up bottom sediments and disposing them off at a different location; (d) “National Park” means an area declared, as National Park under section 35 or section 38, or deemed to be declared as a National Park under sub-section (3) of section 66, of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (35 of 1972) (e) “Ramsar Convention” means the Convention on Wetlands signed at Ramsar, Iran in 1971; (f) “UNESCO” means the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation; (g) “wetland” means an area or of marsh, fen, peatland or water; natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters and includes all inland waters such as lakes, reservoir, tanks, backwaters, lagoon, creeks, estuaries and manmade wetland and the zone of direct influence on wetlands that is to say the drainage area or catchment region of the wetlands as determined by the authority but does not include main river channels, paddy fields and the coastal wetland covered under the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forest, S.O. number 114th (E) dated the 19 February, 1991 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii) of dated the 20th February, 1991; (h) “wildlife sanctuary” means an area declared as a wildlife sanctuary under the provisions of Chapter IV of the WildLife (Protection) Act, 1972 (35 of 1972) and shall include an area deemed to be sanctuary under sub section (4) of section 66 of, the said Act. (2) The word and expressions used in these rules and not defined but defined in the Act, shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in the Act. 3. Protected wetlands: Based on the significance of the functions performed by the wetlands for overall well being of the people and for determining the extent and level of regulation, the following wetlands shall be regulated under these rules, namely:(i) wetlands categorized as Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention as specified in the Schedule.
Wetland Rules
25
(ii) wetlands in areas that are ecologically sensitive and important, such as, national parks, marine parks, sanctuaries, reserved forests, wildlife habitats, mangroves, corals, coral reefs, areas of outstanding natural beauty or historical or heritage areas and the areas rich in genetic diversity; (iii) wetlands recognised as or lying within a UNESCO World Heritage Site; (iv) high altitude wetlands or high altitude wetland complexes at or above an elevation of two thousand five hundred metres with an area equal to or greater than five hectares; (v) wetlands or wetland complexes below an elevation of two thousand five hundred metres with an area equal to or greater than five hectares; (vi) any other wetland as so identified by the Authority and thereafter notified by the Central Government under the provisions of the Act for the purposes of these rules. 4. Restrictions on activities within wetlands: (1) The following activities within the wetlands shall be prohibited, namely: (i) reclamation of wetlands; (ii) setting up of new industries and expansion of existing industries; (iii) manufacture or handling or storage or disposal of hazardous substances covered under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 notified vide S.O. number 966 (E) dated the 27th November, 1989 or the rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms / Genetically engineered organisms or cells notified vide GSR number 1037 (E) dated 5th December, 1989 or the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundry Movement) Rules, 2008 notified vide S.O. number 2265 (E), dated the 24th September, 2008; (iv) solid waste dumping: provided that the existing practices, if any, existed before the commencement of these rules shall be phased out within a period not exceeding six months from the date of commencement of these rules; (v) discharge of untreated wastes and effluents from industries, cities or towns and other human settlements: provided that the practices, if any, existed before the commencement of these rules shall be phased out within a period not exceeding one year from the date of commencement of these rules; (vi) any construction of a permanent nature except for boat jetties within fifty metres from the mean high flood level observed in the past ten years calculated from the date of commencement of these rules. (vii) Any other activity likely to have an adverse impact on the ecosystem of the wetland to be specified in writing by the Authority constituted in accordance with these rules. (2) The following activities shall not be undertaken without the prior approval of the State Government within the wetlands, namely:(i) withdrawal of water or the impoundment, diversion or interruption of water sources within the local catchment area of the wetland ecosystems; (ii) harvesting of living and non-living resources; (iii) grazing to the level that the basic nature and character of the biotic community is not adversely affected; (iv) treated effluent discharges from industries, cities or towns, human settlements and agricultural fields falling within the limits laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board or the State Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be; (v) plying of motorized boat, if it is not detrimental to the nature and character of the biotic community; (vi) dredging, only if the wetland is impacted by siltation; (vii) construction of boat jetties; (viii) activities within the zone of influence, as per the definition of wetlands, that may directly affect the ecological character of the wetland; (ix) facilities required for temporary use, such as pontoon bridges, that do not affect the ecological character of the wetland; (x) aquaculture, agriculture and horticulture activities within the wetland; (xi) repair of existing buildings or infrastructure including reconstruction activities. (xii) any other activity to be identified by the Authority. (3) Notwithstanding any in sub-rule (1) or sub-rule (2), the Central Government may permit any of the prohibited activities or non-wetland use in the protected wetland on the recommendation of the Authority. (4) The State Government shall ensure that a detailed Environment Impact Assessment is carried out in accordance with the procedures specified in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests S.O. number 1533 (E) dated the September 14th, 2006 as amended from time to time. (5) No wetland shall be covered to non-wetland use unless the Central Government is satisfied on the recommendation of the Authority that is expedient in the public interest and reasons justifying the decision are recorded.
26
5. Constitution of Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority: (1)TheCentralGovernment,inexerciseof thepowersconferredbysub-section(3)of section3of theEnvironment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), hereby constitutes Central Wetlands Regulatory Authority constituting of thefollowingChairpersonsandmembersforthepurposeof theserules,namely:(a) Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest s, Government of India – Chairperson; (b) a representative (not below the rank of Joint Secretary) from Ministry of Tourism, Government of India – Member exofficio; (c) a representative (not below the rank of Joint Secretary) from Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India – Member ex-officio; (d) a representative (not below the rank of Joint Secretary) from Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India – Member ex-officio; (e) a representative (not below the rank of Joint Secretary) from Ministry of Social Justice, Government of India – Member ex-officio; (f) Chairman or his nominee, the Central Pollution Control Board – Member exofficio; (g) Joint Secretary or Adviser, dealing with the wetland in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, member ex-officio; (h) Dr. Asad R. Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Dr. Salim Ali Chowk, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400 023; Expert Ornithology – member; (i) Prof. A.R. Yousuf, Dean, Academic Affairs and Biological Sciences University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir; Expert Limnology – member; (j) Dr. C.K. Varshney, 88 Vaishali, Pitampura, New Delhi – 110034; Expert Ecology – member; (k) Dr. E.J. James, Director, Water Institute, Karunya University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu; Expert Hydrology – member; (l) Director or Additional Director or Joint Director dealing with the Wetland in the Ministry of Environment and Forests – Member Secretary. (2) The term of the Authority shall be three years effected from the date of publication of the notification referred to in sub-rule (1). (3) The Authority shall exercise the following powers and perform the following functions, namely: (i) appraise proposals for identification of new wetlands, projects or activities in consultations with the concerned local authorities; (ii) identify and interface with the concerned local authorities to enforce the provisions contained under these rules and other laws for the time being in force; (iii) grant clearances or identify in consultation with the local state government, the areas for the grant of clearance for regulated activities in the wetlands within their respective jurisdictions; (iv) determine, in consultation with concerned local authority, the zone of direct influence of the wetlands; (v) issue whatever directions, necessary for the conservation, preservation and wise use of wetlands to the State Governments. (4)The Authority shall periodically review the list of wetlands and the details of prohibited and regulated activities under the rules. (5) The Authority shall specify the threshold levels for activities to be regulated and the mode and methodology for undertaking activities in wetland. 6. Process for identification of wetlands under different categories: (1) Wetlands covered under item (i) of rule 3 specified under Schedule shall be the wetland to be regulated under these rules. (2) The States Government shall prepare, within a period of one year from the commencement of these rules, 'Brief Document' identifying and classifying the wetlands within their respective territories in accordance with the criteria specified under Rule 3 and submit the same to Authority. (3) The 'Brief Document' of each wetland for identification shall comprise of following information, namely:i) broad geographic delineation of the wetland; ii) its zone of influence along with a map (accurate and to scale); iii) the size of the wetland; iv) account of pre-existing rights and privileges, consistent or not consistent with the ecological health of the wetland. (4) The Authority, shall on receipt of the 'Brief Document' under sub-rule (2), if consider it necessary refer in consultation with the State Government to a research institute or university having relevant multi-disciplinary expertise related to wetlands, to conduct a comprehensive survey of the wetland within a period of thirty days: provided that the institute or university to which the matter has been referred under sub-rule (4) shall submit a report within next ninety days from the date of such reference to Authority, which shall contain information with respect to the criteria specified under rule 3.
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(5) The Authority shall, thereafter, arrive at a decision in consultation with the State Government, on the proposal, within a period of ninety days from the date of receipt of the report under sub-rule (4). (6) The Central Government shall on the receipt of the recommendation of the Authority notify the area of wetlands as recommended by the Authority for public information inviting objections and suggestions from the general public likely to be affected to make representation to the Central Government within a period of sixty days; (7) The Authority shall consider all the representations which the Central Government may receive under sub-rule (6) and submit its recommendation on the such representations to Central Government within a period of sixty days for final notification; (8) The Central Government shall on receipt of the recommendations of the Authority under sub-rule (7) issue a final notification notifying therein the area of the wetland its category or classification to be regulated under these rules and display the said notification in public places in English and vernacular languages. (9) The Authority may, suo moto or on application made to it, review any decision under these rules or issue direction for inclusion of wetland under these rule. 7. Overlapping provisions: (1) The wetlands within the protected areas of the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries shall be regulated by the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (35 of 1972). (2) The wetlands within the protected or notified forest areas shall be regulated by the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1972); the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980); and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986). (3) The gaps in the regulation of wetlands within the protected and notified forest areas, if any, under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927; Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972; and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; shall be plugged by invoking provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. (4) The wetlands situated outside the protected or notified forest areas referred to in sub-rule (2) shall be regulated by the relevant provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986). 8. Enforcement of regulated activities: (1) The identified activities for management and wise use of wetlands situated within the protected or notified forest areas referred to in sub rule (2) of rule 7 shall be regulated by the Forest Department of the State concerned. (2) The identified activities for management and wise use of wetlands situated outside the protected or notified forest areas shall be regulated by the nodal Department or the relevant local state agencies to be designated by the State Government within a period of six months from the date of commencement of these rules. 9. Appeals against the decisions of Authority: Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Authority may prefer an appeal to the National Green Tribunal constituted under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (19 of 2010) with in a period of sixty days from the date of such decision: Provided the National Green Tribunal may entertain any appeal after the expiry of the said period of sixty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented Serial Name of Wetland State by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time. Number (2) (3) (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
THE SCHEDULE [see-rule 3(I)] Wetlands in India identified as Ramsar sites under Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
*During September 2012 the Nalsarovar Wetland from Gujarat state was also added to the Ramsar list making the total number of Ramsar sites in India to 26 numbers.
Kerala Orissa Madhya Pradesh Orissa Assam West Bengal Punjab Punjab Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh Manipur Tamil Nadu
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Ashtamudi Wetland Bhitarkanika Mangroves Bhoj Wetland Chilika Lake Deepor Beel East Calcutta Wetlands Harike Lake Kanjli Keoladeo National Park Kolleru Lake Loktak Lake Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary Pong Dam Lake
14 15 16
Ropar Sambhar Lake Sasthamkotta Lake
Punjab Rajasthan Kerala
17 18 19
Tsomoriri Vembanad-Kol Wetland Wular Lake
Jammu and Kashmir Kerala Jammu and Kashmir
20 21 22
Chandratal Renuka Rudrasagar
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Tripura
23 24 25
Upper Ganga Hokarsar (Hokera) Surinsar and Mansar (complex)
Uttar Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir.
Himachal Pradesh
Source: The Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II- Section 3- Sub section (I).New Delhi, the 4 December, 2010 (G.S.R. 951 (E)) & the New Delhi, the 24 March, 2011 (G.S.R. 952 (E)),Government of India Press, New Delhi 110064
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Profile of the Coimbatore City Lakes (a) Narasampathy Lake (Latitude 11° 0’ 3. 5994" N and Longitude 76° 54' 54" E): The catchment area of the lake is 963 hectares with the current lakebed area of 19.425 hectares and a water storage capacity of 4.45 Mcft. It is located west of Coimbatore city adjacent to the Thondamuthur road and west of Krishnampathy Lake. It is the first lake to receive water from the Noyyal River through Chitrachavadi channel. It also receives runoff from a stream course coming from the Maruthumalai forest area. The tank has one masonry weir of length 14.10 M located near Veerakeralam village. The lake has four inlets, of which three are sewage inflows, and three outlets comprising of one weir dam and two sluice gates. There are about 150 huts located on the bund covering an area of 2.48 hectares. (b) Krishnampathy Lake (Latitude 11° 0’ 21.6" N and Longitude 76° 55' 40.7994" E): The catchment area of the lake is 2600 hectares with the current lakebed area of 21.853 hectares and a water storage capacity of 8.48 Mcft. The lake is situated west of Coimbatore city on the Thadagam to Kondamuthur road. The lake has two main feeding sources, one from Koilmedu that receives water from the research farm area of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and the Karperayan channel that drains from the Marudamalai forest area directly joining the lake. It also receives water from the Noyyal River through the Chitrachavadi channel. The lake has four inlets including three sewage inlets. It has only one outlet in the form of masonry weir located under a bridge. The bridge is located on the Thondamuthur to Thadagam road from the town. The length of the weir is 30 m with a height of 1.40 m. There are about 300 huts located in the foreshore area of the lake occupying about 1.214 hectares. (c) Selvampathy Lake (Latitude 11° 0’ 10.8"N and Longitude 76° 56' 16.8"E): The catchment area of the lake is 1600 hectares with the current lakebed area of 16.187 hectares and a water storage capacity of 4 Mcft. The surplus water from the Krishnampathy Lake reaches Selvampathy lake. The outlet is connected to Kumarasamy Lake. It receives sewage water through two inlets. The lake has one outlet in the form of masonry weir located under a bridge. The length of the weir is 30 m with a height of 1.40 m. Moreover, it has 267 tiled houses, which have come up during the past 25 years, around this lake illegally covering an extent of 3.237 hectares.
a
b
c
d
(d) Kumarasamy Lake (Latitude 11° 0’ 7.2" N and Longitude 76° 56' 38.4" E): It is situated on the Thondamuthur road. It receives excess water from the Selvampathy Lake. It has catchment area of 1600 hectares with the current lakebed area of 4.281 hectares and a water storage capacity of 6 Mcft. It receives sewage water through many sewage inlets. The lake has only one sluice has an outlet. The north and east side of the lake is lined with several hutments. (e) Selvachinthamani Lake (Latitude 10°59' 24" N and Longitude 76° 56' 52.7994"E): It is located within the city on the north the Perur road and east of Selvapuram. It has a catchment of 1600 hectares with the current lakebed area of 10.522 hectares and a water storage capacity of 3 Mcft. It receives surplus water from the Kumaraswamy Lake in addition to a major sewage inlet. The outlet of the tank is through a regulator with three shutters located along the Perur road. It is a smaller lake compared to other lakes in the city. It is surrounded by lot of houses, the vehicular traffic is heavy in this road, and the bunds are covered with debris. (f) Ukkadam / Periyakulam Lake (Latitude 10° 56' 48" N and Longitude 76° 57' 28.7994” The biggest of the Coimbatore city lakes is situated near to Ukkadam bus-stand, it has catchment area of 6300 hectares and the current lakebed area is 136.379 hectares and a water storage capacity of 97 Mcft. This tank is located north of the River Noyyal and is fed by the channel from the Coimbatore anicut on the Noyyal River. The lake also receives surplus water from the Selvachinthamani Lake located in the upstream (north-west) in addition to five major sewage inlets. The lake is provided with five outlets one with a connection to feed the Valankulam Lake situated on east of the lake. It has a surplus weir arrangement of about 25.8 m
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situated on the south side of the lake, which is a masonry weir with sidewalls and solid apron. It is situated close to a fish market, bus station and a taxi stand, and is a recipient of various industrial effluents, urban sewage and municipal solid wastes. There are 300 pucca / thatched houses located at the toe of the bund on southern side of the lake. Approximate area under encroachment as per PWD is around 4.047 hectares. (g) Valankulam Lake (Latitude 10° 59' 31.2" N and Longitude 76° 58' 26.4" E): It has catchment area of 480 hectareswith the current lakebed area of 38.85 hectares and a water storage capacity of 16.7 Mcft. Valankulam is located between Sungam in the east to Ukkadam in the west. It receives supply from the Coimbatore anicut channel through the Coimbatore big lake and surplus flows into a stream, which joins the Singanallur lake. Earlier the water used to reach the Ammankulam but is diverted directly to the Sanganurpallam drain. The present length of the water passage is 6.0 m at the Sungam junction in the city. The Ukkadam to Trichy road bye-pass, starting from Ukkadam (South West) to Sungam (North East), itself was formed on the bund of the Valankulam. As per the PWD records, there are about 1500 huts located in the lake occupying about 6.070 hectares.
e
f
g (h) Singanallur Lake (Latitude 10° 59' 16.7994" N and Longitude 77° 01' 37.2" E): It is one of the biggest lakes in Coimbatore situated on the Coimbatore – Singanallur road. It has a catchment area of 1178 hectares with the current lakebed area of 66.773 hectares and a water storage capacity of 30 Mcft. The length of the bund on the lake extends to 3102 m. It has 3 major inlets one from River Noyyal, and two sewage drains from Sanganur and Kalimadai, one weir dam and two sluices act as outlets for the lake. A railway track connecting Podanur and Irugur passes through this lake. It is surrounded by agricultural and residential areas on the eastern, southern and western side of lake.
h
Map Courtesy Dr.S Babu
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Annexure III: National Wetlands Conservation Programme The Government of India has been implementing the National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP) in close collaboration with the State/UT Governments since the year 1985-86. Under the programme, 115 wetlands have been identified till now by the Ministry which requires urgent conservation and management interventions. The aim of the programme is to prevent the further degradation of wetlands and ensuring their wise use for the benefit of local communities and overall conservation of biodiversity. Role of Central Government The Central Government is responsible for overall coordination of wetland conservation programmes and initiatives at the international and national levels and; · Providing financial assistance for implementation of the approved items of the programme; · Providing technical expertise and know-how including training of personnel; · Issue of detailed guidelines covering all aspects of management; and · Evaluation of the interventions made. Role of State Government/UT Administration Since the land resources belong to them, the State Governments/UT Administration are responsible for management of wetlands and implementation of the NWCP for ensuring their wise-use. Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 87 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58
Name of Wetlands Kolleru Deepor Beel Urpad Beel Sone Beel Kabar Barilla Kusheshwar Asthan Nal Sarovar Great Rann of Kachh Thol Bird Sanctuary Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary Little Rann of Kachh Pariej Wadhwana Nanikakrad Sultanpur Bhindawas Renuka Pong Dam Chandertal Rewalsar Khajjiar Wullar Tso Moriri Tisgul Tso and Chisgul Marshes Hokersar Surinsar - Mansar Ranjit Sagar Pangogng Tso Gharana Hygam Mirgund Shalbhug Chushul and Hanley Udhwa Tilaiya Dam Magadhi Gudavi Bird Sanctuary Bonal Hidkal and Ghataprabha Heggeri Ranganathittu K G Koppa Wetlands Ashtamudi Sasthamkotta Kottuli Kadulandi Vembanad - Kol Barna Yeshwant Sagar Wetland of Ken River National Chambal Sanctuary Ghatigaon Ratapani Denwa Tawa Wetland Kanha Tiger Reserve Pench Tiger Reserve Sakhya Sagar
State/UT
Sl. No. 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115
Andhra Pradesh Assam
Bihar
Gujarat
Haryana Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Name of Wetlands Dihaila Govindsagar Sirpur Ujni Jayakawadi Nalgona Wetland Loktak Umiam Tamdil Palak Chilka Kuanria Wetlands Kanjia Wetlands Daha Wetlands Anusupa Ousteri Lake Harike Ropar Kanjli Nangal Sambhar Kechuperi Holy lake Tamze wetland Tambao wetland complex Phendang wetland complex Gurudokmar wetland Tsongmo wetland Point Calimere Kalivel Palaikarni Rudrasagar Gumti reservoir Nawabganj Sandi Lakh Bahoshi Samaspur Alwara wetlands Semarai Lake Nagaria lake Keetham Lake Shekha wetland Saman Bird sanctuary Sarsai Nawar Patna bird sanctuary Chando wetland, Basti Tal Bhagel wetland Tal Ganbhirvan and Tal Salona Aadi Jal Jeev Jhee Ban Ganga Jhilmil Tal Asan East Calcutta wetlands Sunderbans Ahiron Beel Rasik Beel Santragachi Patlakhawa Rasomati Sukhna
State/UT Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Orissa
Pondicherry Punjab
Rajasthan Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand West Bengal
UT (Chandigarh)
Source: http://moef.nic.in
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The Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) is a national institution devoted to the cause of conservation of India's biodiversity with focus on birds. SACON is situated in the sylvan surroundings of Anaikatty, 24 km northwest of Coimbatore city, within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. It is a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. The management of SACON is vested in a Governing Council comprising 17 members and its Chairman is the Secretary/Additional Secretary of Govt. of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests. SACON's mission is to help conserve India's biodiversity and its sustainable use through research, education and peoples' participation with birds at the centre stage. SACON conducts research in Ornithology covering all aspects of biodiversity & Natural History. Published by, Environmental Information System (ENVIS), Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Anaikatti P.O. Coimbatore 641 108. TamilNadu, India
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