Interferences deface MTTL river system

Nando Waikhom
IMPHAL, Apr 30: A research team of NIT, Manipur which conducted a research on the trans-boundary river system in Manipur, Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) claimed that the hydrologic and ecological system of the Maklang-Tuyungbi-Taret Lok (MTTL) River System which empties into the Chindwin River of Myanmar region has been deformed due to unregulated and uncontrolled interferences.
The NIT research team led by Associate Professor Ngangbam Romeji said that immense local exploitations like burning forests for cultivation and firing bombs for catching fishes have disturbed the ecological system of the river system to an alarming degree.
Speaking to The Sangai Express, the Professor asserted that the hydrological and climatological aspects of the MTTL River System is undiscovered due to its remote location and topography.
Saying that the eastern montane region of Manipur which shares a long boundary with Myanmar is an unperturbed hydrological regime having a network of major to minor rivers, Romeji informed that Maklang, Tuyungbi and Taret Lok streams compose a multi-component river catchment system.
He continued that the MTTL River System encompasses a catchment area of nearly 2278.8 square kilometres as a sub-tropical climatic region within the Manipur side of Indo-Myanmar border.
Tuyungbi River originates from Shangshak, Shokvao, Ramva and Leishi while Maklang River originates from Shirui Hill Ranges of  Ukhrul district, Romeji added.
Based on the spatial analysis of land cover and biodiversity of the research work, the NIT Associate Professor said that the catchment areas of MTTL River System have become highly eroded due to anthropogenic factors such as deforestation, shifting cultivation, cattle grazing, hydrologic regulation and settlement.
He also said that the hydroclimatic changes have the potential to further degrade the already impaired sub-catchments of the MTTL River System and alter their conditions.
The Associate Professor added that there are 21 sub-catchments in the MTTL River System.
Stating that the MTTL River system was examined through field assessment of vegetation, forest sub-types and associated species besides studying the information collected from the State Forest Department, he said that there is a subjective increase in the settlement area along the MTTL River system, causing an equitable decline in the forest cover and added that this can be known from the  land-use land-cover (LULC) analysis of the years 2021 and 2022.
Informing that two hydrological models, namely the SWAT and TOPMODEL were used in the hydrological analysis of climatic factors of the MTTL River catchment, he said that changing hydroclimatic factors increased the magnitude of rainfall precipitation events, specially high intensity rainfall of short durations, soil moisture recession, forest carbon decline, decreasing spring sheds and ground-water recharge due to less snowpack, among other factors.
While claiming that abandoned jhum cultivation pockets (barren land) have been found along the MTTL River catchment areas, the NIT Associate Professor continued that this triggered late season discharge (September and October) and high runoffs of water in the catchment.
He added that the MTTL River System will be rapidly degraded within some years if the Government and authorities concerned fail to take appropriate measures for conservation. The NIT Associate Professor also conveyed that he will present a paper based on this research findings at the 39th World Congress of International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering & Research (IAHR) which will be held at Granada, Spain in June this year. (This feature is written under Media Fellowship on Climate Change Reporting of the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, Manipur).