Join the Tharavai Restoration Campaign • Preserving Heritage Landscapes & Biodiversity • Community Action & Ecological Revival
Our plan
We will restore the Tharavai as a working water system, not just plant trees, starting with 350 of the roughly 750 degraded hectares.
What we will do
1) Remove Prosopis juliflora from the belt.
2)
Desilt the water-spread areas so the belt holds water longer.
3) Reopen the feeder channels from the Vembar and Gundar rivers.
4)
Replant native wetland species.
5) Map water-flow paths with GPS and GIS and build small recharge structures.
6)
Monitor groundwater levels and salinity in village wells.
7) Revive the Tharavai Rehabilitation Committee and set up Panchayat-level committees to manage the belt for the long term.
How
Phase 1: 350 hectares in priority zones, showing measurable recovery within 2-3 years. Phase 2: scale up across the whole stretch. Community labour and local knowledge, with convergence from MGNREGA for clearing and desilting.
Budget
Phase 1 costs Rs 5.5 crore, about Rs 1.57 lakh per hectare all-inclusive: about Rs 75,000 for restoration works, and the rest for field staff, studies, well monitoring, awareness and regular Tharavai Rehabilitation Committee meetings.
What success looks like
Sweeter wells and less money spent on water; returning farming, including Vembar's betel leaves and palm jaggery; more fish near the shore; and official recognition of the Tharavai as a protected water system.
