Cyclones changing course of Galgibaga River: experts

CANACONA: River Galgibaga, the lifeline of Canacona, is known for rich mangroves and other coastal vegetation. For centuries this river has been providing source of livelihood for many coastal communities. 

The main attraction of world famous Galgibaga Beach is its sand bar which is developed near the mouth of River Galgibaga many centuries ago. Due to which the river changed its course and plunged into Arabian by taking an ‘S’ like turn. 

Due to various coastal forces, the sand bar is growing rapidly towards South and threatening the existing of the mouth of the River. Experts fear that Galgibaga-Mashem river turning into a lake. They say that if immediate steps are not taken, then, the river will open upto the sea at a different location putting the nearby ecosystem into peril.

This inference is being drawn after the fact that a sizeable portion of the Galgibaga sand bar getting eroded upto the High Tide Line in the recent cyclone that hit Goa last month.

It may be recalled that last week Herald had carried a report about washing away of a significant portion of a sand bar formation just before the confluence point of Galgibaga and Mashem rivers where both empty into the Arabian sea. Professor Dr F M Nadaf who has conducted extensive studies of the ecosystem of Canacona taluka from the October 2 flash floods of 2009 to the Coastal Geomorphology of the coast of Canacona has sounded a warning bell that the erosion of about 65 mt of the sand bar and the subsequent flow of sea water into the Galgibaga river might change the course of the two rivers which might ultimately empty at this location putting the entire ecology of the two rivers upto the point where the tidal water reach into peril.

When this correspondent accompanied by the Dr Nadaf visited Galgibaga beach to inspect the extent of damage he was astonished to see a vast portion of the spit formation measuring about 65 mts eroded due to the pounding of the waves in the intervening night of October 25 and 26.

The recent activity of building a bridge on Galgibaga-Mashem River has exerted a lot of stress on the fragile ecosystem at this point.

All of this human interference in a diameter of about 500mt has given rise to the formation of another spit from the Southern side of Mashem slowly and steadily crawling to reach to meet the Galgibaga spit.

Study conducted by Dr Nadaf and Dr Joseph D’Souza post 2009 flash floods which accounted to losses to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees and loss of life and property had inferred that both the Galgibaga and Mashem spit will ultimately meet and the two rivers will turn into a lake.