Ernakulam district, the industrial district of Kerala, is one of the six districts of the drainage region of Vembanadu estuary. A study of the Quality of Life (QOL) in relation to the environment and relative developmental status of the district reveals significant information regarding the relationship between QOL, water environment and development of a region. With regard to the developmental indices like Net Domestic Product, growth rate of sectoral income, per-capita income etc., Ernakulam district ranks first in the drainage region of Vembanadu estuary. About 55% of the total number of large and medium scale industries in the Vembanadu drainage region is in this district. The QOL of Kochi city is less than the highest QOL values of almost all the municipalities with in the drainage region of Vembanadu estuary. The main reason for such lowering QOL is the non- availability of drinking water. Thus this city becomes a typical example for the fact that urbanization and related development of a region need not lead to an increase in QOL. It is seen that there is only one district with subjective QOL(s) greater than that of Ernakulam in the Vembanadu drainage region. The main reason for the lowering of QOL(s) in Ernakulam district is found to be water logging and waste disposal problems. An attempt was made to identify the hot spots in the socio-economic environment of the district and it is seen that these hot spots are not in the industrialized zone of the district, but the reasons for such areas being in the category of hot spots are related to the water related environmental problems. So it is safely assumed that the water related environmental problems act as limiting factors in the QOL the region, which has a high growth and development status.

Address: Dept of Geology, University of Kerala,
Kariavattom-695 581
Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad,
Kochi-24, Kerala, India. 

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