Join the Tharavai Restoration Campaign • Preserving Heritage Landscapes & Biodiversity • Community Action & Ecological Revival
What is the Tharavai?
The Tharavai is not a tank or a lake. It is a continuous belt of low-lying land behind the coast, about 30-38 km long, that fills with water from the Vembar and Gundar rivers and the monsoon rains, holds it for months, and slowly releases it to the sea.
1) Stores water
Stores water
Rain and river flows spread across shallow land and stay for months.
2) Recharges wells
Recharges wells
The water soaks into the ground, keeping wells sweet over an area 10-12 times its own size.
3) Holds back the sea
Holds back the sea
The freshwater pressure stops seawater from creeping inland.
4) Feeds the sea
Feeds the sea
Freshwater
Gulf of Mannar
Freshwater seeping into the Gulf of Mannar supports fish breeding, seagrass and coral.
A natural aqua fort
Villagers call it a natural aqua fort. Yet because it is neither a tank nor a river, no government department looks after it; official maps record it only as swampy land.
