Waterfalls falling prey to dam-building: Experts

Tourists Alexander Tsepilova and his wife Liliya wondered why their taxi driver, who drove them from Kumta in coastal Karnataka to India’s highest waterfall in Shimoga district, kept calling it Joke Falls. Their dog-eared Lonely Planet copy said it was Jog Falls (In pic).      

The sarcasm hit the Russian couple only after reaching the spot. Instead of the majesty of the four iconic waterfalls — Raja, Roarer, Rocket and Lady at Jog — all they saw were trickles. “A friend had come here in the late 80s. The sheer force of the water looked so imposing in his photos,” remembered a disappointed Alexander. “It’s hard to believe that this was among the top ten waterfalls of the world.”    

Locals like Siddhaiah Gowda, 42, who runs a stall nearby, also rue the drying up of the waterfall so early in the year. “We’d get hundreds of tourists every day throughout the year, but as word of the falls reducing to a trickle spreads, inflow of tourists has also reduced.”  

So, why does the river Sharavati not plunge down 830 feet with as much force anymore?

Prabhakar Bhat from the Sirsi-based Centre for Ecological Studies of the Indian Institute of Science blames climate change, which is wreaking havoc in the eco-fragile Sharavati valley. This scholar, studying the nature of the forests in the Malenaad (literally, ‘the rain region’), knows what he’s saying. “The tropical rainforest is rapidly changing character,” he observes, adding, “changing rain patterns and systematic degradation of the country’s richest forests are becoming evident. The vanishing waterfalls bode ill for all of us.” 

His views are echoed by Parineeta Dandekar of the South Asian Network of Dams, Rivers and People. “The development of six dams, Linganmakki, Supa, Bamanhalli, Kanthalla, Korsalli and Kadra, which led to submergence of lush forests, has only hastened the robbing of once-famous splendour of Jog Falls,” she said.   

With more than 5,100 large dams already blocking almost all the important rivers, activists like Dandekar warn that India’s large dam-building spree will leave a profound negative impact.

“While promised benefits of irrigation, hydropower or flood control have been overstated, numerous interrelated and complex negative impacts have simply not been studied or documented.”  

Jog, however, is not an isolated instance. Athirappilly water falls in Kerala (threatened by the 164 MW Athirappilly hydel project which will affect tourism, endemic wildlife and the region’s Kadar tribes), Sahastrakund waterfalls in Yavatmal, Maharashtra (threatened by a 25 MW hydel/irrigation project), Gaganchukki and Bharachukki falls near Cauvery wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka (threatened by numerous mini hydel projects), Taktsangchu waterfalls in Arunachal Pradesh (threatened by the 780 MW Nyamjangchu project) are all facing a similar fate.