Kaveri River, Kaveri also spelled Cauvery, sacred river of southern India. It rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in southwestern Karnataka state, flows in a southeasterly direction for 475 miles (765 km) through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls. According to Hindu Mythology a king Kavera lived in the Brahmagiri hills and prayed to Lord Brahma for a child. He was blessed with a daughter whom he named Kaveri. She was the water manifestation of the human form. The great sage Agastya married her and kept her in his kamandalu or the spouted jug. When a terrible drought trounced the land, Ganesha in the guise of a crow, tipped the kamandalu and out flowed Kaveri.
The Chola king Karikalan has constructed the bank for the Kaveri all the way from Puhar (Kaveripoompattinam) to Srirangam. It was built as far back as 1,600 years ago or even more. On both sides of the river are found walls spreading to a distance of 1,080 feet (330 m). The Kallanai dam constructed by him on the border between Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur was made with earth and stone and has stood the vagaries of nature for hundreds of years. In 19th century, it was renovated on a bigger scale. The name of the historical dam has since been changed to “Grand Anicut” and stands as the head of a great irrigation system in the Thanjavur district. 
The three major river islands at Kaveri have a strong Vaishnava heritage, with sculptures of Lord Vishnu विष्णु) in a reclining posture on the legendary seven-headed serpent (Sesha ) as his celestial bed (Sheshashayana). These three temples are known as Adi Ranga, Madya Ranga, and Anthya Ranga. On the banks of the Kaveri is the ancient temple town of Talakad where the holy festival Panchalinga Darshana is held every 12 years and devotees bathe in the Kaveri River.Before emptying into the Bay of Bengal south of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, the river breaks into a large number of distributaries forming a wide delta called the “garden of southern India.” Known to devout Hindus as Daksina Ganga (“Ganges of the South”), the Kaveri River is celebrated for its scenery and sanctity in Tamil literature, and its entire course is considered holy ground. The river is also important for its irrigation canal projects.
Its uppermost course is tortuous, with a rocky bed and high banks under luxuriant vegetation. After passing through a narrow gorge and tumbling about 60 to 80 feet (18 to 24 metres) in the rapids ofChunchankatte, the river widens about 900 to 1,200 feet (275 to 365 metres) across the Karnataka Plateau. There its flow is interrupted by a number of anicuts or weirs. At the Krishnaraja Sagara, the Kaveri is joined by two tributaries, the Hemavati and Lakshmantirtha, and dammed for irrigation, forming a 12-square-mile (31-square-km) reservoir.
In Karnataka the river bifurcates twice, forming the sacred islands of Srirangapatnam andSivasamudram, 50 miles (80 km) apart. Around Sivasamudram are the scenic Sivasamudram Falls, comprising two series of rapids, Bhar Chukki and Gagana Chukki, plunging a total of 320 feet (100 metres) and reaching a width of 1,000 feet (300 metres) in the rainy season. The falls supply hydroelectric power to Mysore, Bangalore (Bengaluru), and the Kolar Gold Fields, more than 100 miles (160 km) away.
Upon entering Tamil Nadu, the Kaveri continues through a series of twisted wild gorges until it reaches Hogenakal Falls and flows through a straight, narrow gorge near Salem. There the Mettur Dam, 5,300 feet (1,620 metres) long and 176 feet (54 metres) high, impounds a lake (Stanley Reservoir) of 60 square miles (155 square km). The Mettur Project, completed in 1934, created an important agricultural and industrial area by improving irrigation and providing hydropower.The sharing of waters of the river Kaveri has been the source of a serious conflict between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
After sweeping past the historic rock of Tiruchchirappalli, the Kaveri breaks at Srirangam Island, a major pilgrimage centre. There, in eastern Tamil Nadu state, its braided and extensively irrigated deltaic region of about 4,000 square miles (10,360 square km) begins. A dam called the Grand Anicut was built in the 2nd century at the point where the river divides. A second dam (1836–38) across the Kollidam (Coleroon) River, the Kaveri’s northern and larger channel, saved the old system from silting and extended irrigation. The open roadsteads of Nagappattinam and Karikal are on the seaward side of the delta. The Kaveri’s main tributaries are the Kabani (Kabbani), Amaravati, Noyil, and Bhavani rivers.
The major dams constructed across the Kaveri river are Dams Krishna Raja Sagara Dam and Mettur Dam and the Banasura Sagar Dam on the Kabini River, which is the tributary of the Cauvery. The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam has a capacity of 49 tmc ft. and the Mettur Dam which creates Stanley Reservoir has a capacity of 93.4 tmc ft. (thousand million cubic ft) The hydroelectric plant built on the left Sivanasamudra Falls on the Kaveri in 1902 was the first hydroelectric plant in Karnataka.
The major dams constructed across the Kaveri river are Dams Krishna Raja Sagara Dam and Mettur Dam and the Banasura Sagar Dam on the Kabini River, which is the tributary of the Cauvery. The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam has a capacity of 49 tmc ft. and the Mettur Dam which creates Stanley Reservoir has a capacity of 93.4 tmc ft. (thousand million cubic ft) The hydroelectric plant built on the left Sivanasamudra Falls on the Kaveri in 1902 was the first hydroelectric plant in Karnataka.
Pollution Of Kaveri :
The main polluters are agricultural, industrial and urban sectors. Huge quantities of fertilisers and pesticides are discharged into the river as agricultural runoff. Coffee plantation in the districts of Kodagu, Hassan and Chikmagalur contributes heavily to BOD level (about 4,730 tons of BOD load in each season) in the river water which ranges between 2000 to 4000 mgand1.
A total of 61 industries in Karnataka and 1,139 in the Tamil Nadu contribute a heavy pollution load. These include water intensive textile and sugar units, paper mills, chemical units, engineering units and tanneries. The quantity of waste-water discharged directly into the river is approximately 87,600 cum/ day. The river has a total dissolved solid (TDS) level of 1,450 mg/1 which is three times higher than the permissible limit of 500 mg/1 prescribed by the W.H.O. (Anil Agrawal et al. 1999, p.90).With the water from Mettur dam hardly reaching River Cauvery in Namakkal district, the effluents discharged from the unauthorised dyeing units in Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam into the river has become its only source of water.
On April 19, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board team led by District Environmental Engineer, M. Murugan, raided an illegal dyeing unit in an agricultural field at Kokarayanpettai near Pallipalayam. The landlord opened fire on them but they luckily escaped. The police registered a case and arrested the accused.Since then, the TNPCB has not initiated major action against any polluting dyeing units.S. Saravanan of the Association of People’s Welfare Organisations in Komarapalayam says that the dry river has made it easy to identify illegal dyeing units as they can easily follow the path through which the effluent flows into River Cauvery. “The polluting units should be identified and evicted with police protection. This could be the only solution for the damage caused to the minimum available groundwater”, he opines.
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