Water crisis worsens in Nilgiri Wildlife reserves, forest dept initiates remedial measures

The Forest Department has begun supplying water to artificial water tanks inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve as early as September anticipating drought in the coming months.

The unusually early intervention comes amid reports of drying streams and dwindling water sources in parts of the Nilgiri landscape, raising concerns over the availability of water for wildlife as the region heads towards the dry season.

The development assumes significance because prolonged dryness in the forest areas could also trigger the early movement of Asian elephants towards the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala in search of water and fodder. Such movement could potentially intensify human-wildlife conflict across the interconnected Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve landscape.

The major protected areas forming this contiguous wildlife landscape include the Nagarhole National Park and Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. These apart there are more than a dozen territorial forest zones in the biosphere scattered in three states.

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According to Tarsh Thekaekara, founder of The Shola Trust, a Gudalur-based environmental organisation, several parts of the Mudumalai landscape have already dried up.

“We are heading for a real crisis. People are acutely feeling the lack of rainfall. Streams are barely flowing even during what is supposed to be the monsoon,” Thekaekara said.

He said the situation was alarming and called for measures to minimise the impact of the emerging climatic conditions on the forest ecosystem.

“It is already a bit late, as the jungle streams are drying up,” he said.

The Forest Department has constructed more than a dozen concrete water tanks at various locations inside the wildlife areas. Normally, officials begin filling these tanks towards the end of December, when natural water sources in the forests start drying up, and continue the supply until the onset of substantial summer rainfall, usually towards the end of April.

The decision to begin supplying water in September, therefore, indicates the unusual dryness being experienced in parts of the reserve this year.

Gudalur Divisional Forest Officer P Devaraj told Onmanorama that the situation in the territorial forest divisions was not alarming for the time being, as most natural water sources have water. However, the situation in the Mudumalai wildlife zone was more concerning.

“The Mudumalai forest is already arid, and several streams have dried up,” he said.

The Masinagudi region, situated on the slopes of the Western Ghats overlooking the Deccan Plateau, normally dries up earlier than many other parts of the Nilgiris because of its rain-shadow location. However, officials and conservationists say the present drying is occurring unusually early.

The situation is also being closely monitored by the Kerala officials.

Ajit K Raman, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, told Onmanorama that the sanctuary's border areas have already begun feeling the effects of the drying conditions.

“If the situation persists, we may have to start constructing artificial brushwood check dams earlier than usual, as wildlife pressure from the border areas could begin earlier,” he said.

However, Raman said most of the water sources inside the sanctuary still had water, though the flow in many forest streams was thin.

“The monsoon has not completely ended, and most water sources still have water. But the flow in the streams is weak,” he said.