Bharathappuzha;
with her tributaries, sprawls across the entire district. The river
takes its origin from Anamalai hills and flows through the districts of Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur before emptying into the Arabian sea
at Ponnani. Its four main tributaries are Gayatripuzha, Kannadipuzha,
Kalpathypuzha and Thuthapuzha.
Gayathripuzha;
This river originates from Anamalai hills and
after traversing through Kollengode, Nanmara, Alathur, Wadakkancherry
and pazhayannur, joins Bharathappuzha at Mayannur. This tributary has
five main sub- tributaries. They are Managalam river, Ayalurpuzha,
Vandazhipuzha, Meenkara puzhas and Chulliyar.
Kannadipuzha;
It is also known as Chitturpuzha or Amaravathi
puzha. This river, which also starts from the Anamalai hills, flows
through Thathamangalam and Chittur and joins the main river at Parli.
Three main streams combine to form this river. They are Palar, Aliyar
and Uppar.
Kalpathypuzha;
This river starts from the place called
Chenthamarakulam in the hills, north of Walayar. This is also known as
Korayar. Kalpathypuzha is formed by four streams, viz.,Korayar, Varattar,
Walayar and Malapuzha.
Thuthapuzha;
Thuthapuzha
other wise known as Pilanthol river, starts from the Silent Valley hills
and joins the main river about two kilometers. off Pallippuram railway
station. The important streams, which feed this tributary, are
Kunthipuzha, Kanjirapuzha, Ambankadavu and Thuppanadipuzha.
The length
of Bharathapuzha is 374.40 kms and its catchment area is 6186sq.kms.
The
Bhavani river originates from the Kunda mountains in the Nilgiris, makes
a circuitous course through the Attappady valley and returns to the
shadow of Nilgiri mountains. The catchments area of the Bhavani river
within Kerala is 220sq.miles yielding an annual run off of 27,000million
cubic feet of water. Of the rivers of Kerala, Bhavani river is one among
the three which prefers Bay of Bengal to the Arabian sea.
