River sand auditing: An example from SW India

Abstract

Mining of sand and gravel with little regard to natural replenishment processes have imposed marked changes on the biophysical environment of the small rivers of Kerala in the southwest India. Considering the importance of management of river bed resources, the Government of Kerala enacted the legislation “The Kerala Protection of Riverbanks and Removal of Sand Act, 2001” to protect the rivers from large scale sand mining. This act also envisages provisions for periodic sand auditing in order to evaluate the sand mining process and to protect the rivers from unscientific human interventions. This chapter deals with the various procedures employed in sand auditing of the small rivers of Kerala (southwest India), taking the case of Periyar river an example.