Recommendations

The following measures have to be adopted to protect the lotic ecosystems in central Western Ghats:
(i) avoid littering of wastes near water bodies,
(ii) restrictions on letting untreated sewage and industrial effluents,
(iii) adoption of constructed wetlands to prevent agricultural runoff with high nutrient loads,
(iv) conservation of sacred groves and native forest ecosystems to enhance the water retention capability of the catchment and to avert scarcity of water       quantity and quality,
(v) planting native species in the catchment to enhance water infiltrations,
(vi) restrictions on large scale monoculture plantations in the catchment,
(vi) protection of the shoreline and riparian vegetation zone,
(vii) evolve sustainable management strategies to mitigate pollution due to tourism,
(viii) restriction on the use of fertilizers in agriculture and horticulture fields,
(ix) restriction on the diversion of streams that alters natural flow impacting downstream biota and people’s livelihood, etc.