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Land Cover Change in the catchment of Ralliah Dam (2003-2016)

The Ralliah dam is one of the important sources of water for the Coonoor town. It was built in the 1930s. The catchment of the dam is mostly forest land dominated by exotics. There are wetland patches that serve to supply water to the dam throughout the year. Can you spot any changes in the […]

Land cover change around Yedappalli wetland (2012-2016)

The wetland above Yedappalli village in Coonoor taluk is an important source of water. The water flows from here are tapped downstream by the Municipality to supply water to the town. Locally there are two temples near the wetland that are using the water directly from the wetland. By comparing the images from 2012 and […]

Land cover change in Elada Dam catchment (2008-2015)

The Elada dam is an important water source for Kotagiri town in the Nilgiris. It has become dry a couple of months back and this prompted us to revisit it and see what has changed, apart from the poor rainfall this year. One easy way to look at changes over time is to use historical […]

About Springs

Here’s a simplified understanding of Springs in the Nilgiris, particularly the upper areas. What are Springs? Springs are places in the soil or rock where groundwater emerges naturally. This could be a single point or a set of points close to each other. Springs that flow throughout the year are called perennial springs, whereas those […]

Map of springs inventory in the Coonoor region, The Nilgiris

Over the last two years, Keystone has been mapping locations of perennial springs along with some baseline data. This is a first attempt of its kind in the Nilgiris as far as we know. Certainly no map or list of springs in this landscape is readily available to the public. Here’s a map of the […]

Springs and wetlands in the Nilgiris

The Nilgiris is the source of important rivers like the Bhavani, Moyar, Chaliyar and Kabini. These rivers in turn are the lifeline of the communities that live on and near their banks. This year the monsoon has played truant and subsequently there is much less flow of water in the streams and storage levels in […]

PES project Reports for Coonoor

We have been looking at the Payment for Ecosystem Services approach as a potential way to address the water crisis in Coonoor. The final reports of this effort are shared here. Hydrogeological assessment of the catchments of three water sources of Coonoor Recommendations for Development of a PES Project in Coonoor Note on a PES […]

Wetland Management Plans

Management Plan The first stage of the project was concerned with collection of data on wetlands from prominent wetlands of the Nilgiris. An attempt was made to cover as many wetlands as possible and from as many representative areas in the Nilgiris. However, the more we studied about wetlands; we realized that we have barely […]

First Survey of Wetlands in the Nilgiris (2006)

Keystone conducted a baseline survey of 38 hill wetlands. We have mapped, inventorised flora, fauna and people dependence on wetlands. Wetlands have been classified in different categories as common property resources – in rural and urban areas and in private and protected areas. In each of these categories a threat assessment has been made and […]

About Wetlands

Wetlands of the Nilgiri region are unique, unlike wetlands in general – these are small sized hill wetlands, life giving in nature…habitat for a variety of wildlife, flora and meet the needs of the people. These wetlands are fragmented in small random patches – with underground connectivity of water channels. There are no dramatic landscapes […]