Agniyar River

The river begins as a small stream south of Keeranur, proceeding south and east, passing Karambakkudi. Southeast of Karambakkudi, the Grand Anicut canal connects to it. The river continues eastward past Sendakkottai, until it is joined by the Maharajasamundram River south of Pattukkottai and west of Adirampattinam. After this confluence, the river flows south for a short distance, until it empties into the Palk Strait south of the village of Rajamadam, in the Pattukkottai taluk of Thanjavur district. [1][2]

As reported by a gauging station at the final dam across the river, the average yearly flow into the Bay of Bengal was about 90 million cubic metres of water. However, this average does not account for seasonal changes in precipitation and intermittent flow that result from India's wet and dry seasons.[3]

The river suffers from high nitrate and fluoride concentrations that are the result of agricultural runoff. Poor solid waste management and soil erosion also harm the river.[4] In the dry season, sand is sometimes illegally mined from the riverbed for use in construction. This extraction destabilizes the river’s ecosystem and contributes to negative effects.[5]