The known and the unknown of the Sethusamudram
project
By A. Muhuntha
In 1860, a British commander, A.D. Taylor from the Indian Marine, planned a project
called Sethusamudram Canal Project - SSCP.
Later in independent India, between 1952 and 1955, a great business person, namely
Ramasamy Mudalliar, submitted a proposal along with major feasibility and desirability
report of connecting the Gulf of Mannar with Palk Bay and its impact on Tuticorin port.
Though every decade a committee or an expert recommendation was received, none
of these initiations did result into a real project.
The estimated cost of this project along with the Tuticorin harbour project at that time
was 9.98 Crore Indian Rupees. In 1963 Government of India sanctioned only the
Tuticorin harbour project and the rest of the project ideas were put in cold storage.
SSCP project proposes linking the Gulf of Mannar (GOM) and Palk Strait, to facilitate a
passage for ships, in which the process will connect the east and west coast of India.
At present India does not have a continuous navigable route within its own territorial
waters and ships from Kolkatta (formally Calcutta), still have to go round Sri Lanka to
reach Tuticorin.
Successive committees revised the cost of the project upwards. Later in 1994, the
Tamil Nadu state government appointed a state transport consultancy services to
appraise and revalidate a 1983 report.
The new report was submitted in March of 1996, with a cost of 760 Crore Indian
Rupees (169 Million US Dollars) for 31 feet draft.
In January 1999, the then defense Minister George Fernandes amended that the
government would issue an order to start the SSCP in three years.
Following that, backed by the Prime Minister's assurance, the concrete step towards
the execution of project came when the union Finance Ministry allocated 4.8 Crore
Indian rupees (1.06 Million US Dollars) for the feasibility study of the SSCP.
Recently under the directive of the union ministry, the Tuticorin Port Trust invited
tenders for undertaking the feasibility cum environment study.
Dimensions of SSCP are as follows: depth-12.8 m; width-300 m two-way channel;
length - 260km (44.9 Nautical miles) area - 10,500 Sq. km.; cost - 1500-2000 Crores
Indian Rupees (442 Million US Dollars). It is quite unimaginable what an amount of
land and biomass would be removed or displaced from area of then SSCP project.
As mentioned by other researchers the SSCP would:
1. Prevent the movement of Dugong (Sea Cow), an endangered marine mammal.
2. When ships start into operation, some alien species belonging to another niche will
be brought into GOM by pumping the ballast (counterweight) water.
3. These alien species in turn would possibly cause threat to the already recorded 377
endemic marine species those thrive in the project area waters.
4. The surrounding environment may result in marine pollution due to oil spillages,
grease and plastic floats from the sea borne vessels.
5. Marine pollution would affect the productivity of sea grass, which is the main feeding
ground for the Dugongs.
6. The dredged materials would possibly be disposed in the proposed wetland and
other feeding grounds for many migratory birds and in turn will destroy a precious
habitat.
Early in the year 2001, marine experts of United Nations Organizations listed around
twenty (20) issues of global concern regarding deterioration of the marine
environment. Some concerns, which would be accelerated by the SSCP are;
a) demise of large area of coral reefs.
b) Eutrophication and anoxia.
c) Harmful algal blooms and destruction of useful algal habitats.
d) Increased or decreased mobilization of sediment.
e) Transfer of harmful species into coastal areas.
f) Harmful algal blooms and destruction of useful algal habitats.
g) Inundation, as a consequence of physical alteration.
h) Reduced bio-diversity.
i) Sea floor littering.
j) Increased risk to human health.
k) Injection of contaminants in the form of sewage, metals, persistent organic
substances and petroleum hydrocarbons.
The above consequences are not given in any implied order of severity or importance.
Environmental alterations
The SSCP project brings in many environmental changes and challenges to the GOM
and surrounding ecosystems. GOM is of a very shallow bed with many sand dunes;
nature uses these dunes as barriers against the water flow. Dredging sand barriers
could make Sri Lankan shores more vulnerable to sea erosion.
Apart from the physical impact on the sea floor, there may be some occurrence of
seawater chemistry changes, in the project and surrounding areas. The proposed
SSCP will result in the destruction of large scale shallow water coral reefs.
These coral reefs in the proposed SSCP project area are not only unique but also act
as a buffer in filtering and detoxifying some harmful materials in the marine
environment.
They also play a major role in sizing the amount of chemical behaviour of dissolved
CO2 water. The behaviour of the CO2 in water is complex and counterintutive. Due to
the skeletal chemistry of the coral reef, their removal or destruction will highly alter the
local water chemistry.
The concentration of CO2 in water will affect the characteristics of water. Water has
four measurable properties those are commonly used to characterise its chemistry.
They are pH, general hardness (GH), Buffering Capacity and salinity.
In addition, several nutrients and trace elements also play a role in characterising the
water chemistry. General Hardness (GH) refers to the dissolved concentration of
calcium and magnesium ions. When fishes are said to prefer "soft" or "hard" water, it is
GH (not KH) that being referred to.
It is important to note that GH, KH (Carbonate Hardness) and pH are the basics of
water chemistry. Although these three properties are distinct, they all interact with
each other to some varying degrees, making it difficult to adjust one without
influencing the other. That is one of the reasons why aquarists are advised not to
tamper with these parameters unless necessary.
As an example, 'hard water' frequently often comes from limestone aquifers.
Limestone contains calcium carbonate, which when dissolved in water increases both
the GH (from calcium) and KH (from carbonate) components.
Increasing the KH component also usually increases pH as well. At this juncture, it is
important to note that the destruction of coral reefs too will result in the abundance of
calcium carbonates in the project area.
What would be the socio-economic impact of this project to Sri Lanka?
So as we all know, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Apart from the
large magnitude of blast during the project the removal of large scale of landmass and
biomass from the sea floor would have an altering effect in the seafloor area. How
much will it affect a future occurrence of sea floor earth quake/displacement is
unknown.
That being said, it is important to think, since the project area is near an edge of the
continental plate:
* Will it promote a sea floor subduction, earthquake or displacement and vis-a-vis
promoting another possible tsunami in the region?
India can avoid a project like SSCP, by building a medium sized port near Andhra or
Orissa state, and enlarging the existing Tuticorin port. Transporting cargoes in smaller
sized cargo ships. This would not only promote a sustainable environmental change,
but also would bring lots of employment and economic development to different states