Threat to Bhitarkanika mangrove forest

• Due to the diversion of freshwater from the Brahmani river basin, the mangrove vegetation in Bhitarkanika National Park is under grave threat.
• Mangroves grow in brackish water which needs a proportional amount of freshwater flow from the rivers.
• Mixing of water keeps the salinity level of the water along the shore down which is ideal for the mangroves to grow and stay healthy.

Major concerns:

• Enormous quantities of freshwater from the Brahmani river are diverted to Talcher-Angul coal mines, steel and power-generating units as well as the Kalinga Nagar steel and power hub.
• Diversion of water through an irrigation canal and reservoir.
• With lack of fresh water from the Brahmani and the Kharasrota would increase saline ingression upstream, which would affect the local flora and fauna as well as the livelihoods of the farmers and fishermen.
• The Odisha government’s mega drinking water project seeks to divert water from the Kharasrotra to the Bhadrak district.
• Freshwater mixed with seawater near the lower end of the Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers to produce brackish water ideal for mangroves.
• Lowering the fresh water in the river channel could increase in the man–crocodile conflict since the estuarine crocodiles would leave the core sanctuary area and migrate upstream once salinity increases.
• There is also a threat to Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary (the largest population of Olive Ridley sea turtles for congregation and nesting).

Bhitarkanika National Park:

• Bhitarkanika National Park, located in the Kendrapara District of the State of Odisha. is the second-largest mangrove forest in India.
• In 1975, it was declared as Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary by the Government of Odisha.
• It was declared as a National Park in 1998.
• Bhitarkanika has also been designated as the Wetland of International importance under Ramsar Convention in 2002.
• It is surrounded by Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary. Gahirmatha Beach and Marine Sanctuary are to the east, separating the swamp region and mangroves from the Bay of Bengal.
• It is home to 70% of the country’s estuarine or saltwater crocodiles.

River Brahmani:

• It forms after the confluence of the Koel and the Sankh rivers near Rourkela.
• The river basin flows through Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa States and drains into the Bay of Bengal.
• Kharasrota river is the tributary of the Brahmani river.