Karamana River

Karamana is a river flowing through the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. The river starts near the southern tip of the Western Ghats at Agastyar Koodam. The river flows 66 km westward and merges with the Arabian Sea at Panathura near Kovalam. The river gets its name from Karamana, a suburb of Thiruvananthapuram city, through which it flows.

The catchment area is mostly forested, command area is under mixed dry land crops such as coconut, tapioca, pepper, plantain, rice, etc.

The Karamana rises in the vicinity of the Agasthiarkoodam about 1600 m above the sea level. The peaks of origin of the river are today known as Chemmunji Motta and Aathiramala and its upper tributary rivers are the Kaaviyaar, Attayaar, Vaiyappadyaar and Thodayaar. The river flows for 66 kilometers in a south - south west direction before flowing into the Arabian Sea. The largest tributary of the Karamana is the Killiyar, which flows for a distance of 24 kilometres. It has five anicuts on it which regulates the flow of water. Part of the water is diverted into the Kochar channel which in turn feeds the Padmatheertham pond outside the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. There are several temples located along the Killiyar's banks, the most famous of which is the Attukal Temple. The Killiyar drains the Nedumangad forest and its basin is rich in avian fauna. The river merges with the Arabian Sea through the Pozhikkara estuary. In its final lap, the river runs parallel to the sea and the river here is known as the Edayar.

The Karamana river has two important dams on it. These are the Aruvikkara Dam, built in the 1930s and the Peppara Dam which lies further upstream and was built in 1983. The Aruvikkara Dam was completed with the aim of providing piped drinking water to the city. The Trivandrum Water Works, inaugurated by and named after Lord Willingdon in 1933, is in charge of receiving and distributing the Karamana's waters to the city even today. A JICA funded project is under way to augment the water distribution network in the city. The Peppara Dam regulates the flow of water into the Aruvikkara Dam by unifying all the upper tributaries of the Karamana river. The Peppara Dam has played a crucial role in eliminating the floods that once used to characterized the Karamana. There is also a 3 MW hydel power station at Peppara.

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Wikipedia