The Hindu 01.02.2014
No more deepening of borewells beyond a point: Mayor
Even as the severe water scarcity which is gripping different parts of Vellore dominated the proceedings of the monthly ordinary meeting of the Vellore Corporation Council here on Friday, Vellore Mayor P. Karthiyayini indicated that the Corporation had decided against the practice of drilling new public borewells or deepening existing borewells beyond the depth at which water is available.
The Mayor made the statement in response to the demand from various councillors for deepening borewells wherever the groundwater table had depleted. She said that the drilling of new borewells or deepening of existing borewells beyond the depth at which water is available would lead to the depletion of groundwater in that area as well as in the vicinity, leading to greater water scarcity. Therefore, wherever the Corporation’s borewells have gone dry, the Corporation has decided to construct sumps or install high density poly-ethylene (HDPE) tanks and fill them with water transported through the Corporation’s water tankers.
S. Raja (DMK), 38th ward member objected to the proposal of linking the Ponnai scheme with the Allapuram-Thorappadi Combined Drinking Water Scheme under which water is supplied to the added areas of Allapuram and Thorappadi (erstwhile town panchayats), since Vellore is reeling under water scarcity.
Janaki, Commissioner of the Corporation said that it was not proper on the part of councillors to object to the linking of the Ponnai scheme to the pipelines supplying water to Allapuram and Thorappadi since these two erstwhile town panchayats have been annexed with Vellore Corporation and they too were reeling under water scarcity. Vellore Corporation is dependent on water supplied from the head works in Eraivankadu, a village which is outside the jurisdiction of Vellore Corporation. Vellore would not get water if the people of Eraivankadu object to the supply of water from their village to Vellore, she said.
K. Sooryachari (AIADMK), 41st ward member, said that though the Mayor instructed the various zonal committees to supply water through tractors, so far, the supply has not been effected. Besides, tenders have not been floated for works with estimates of up to Rs. 5 lakh, which the zonal committees were empowered to undertake. These works should be expedited, he said.
M. Usha Nandini (AIADMK), 54th ward member, said that water was being supplied only once in 15 days in Kaspa area. K. Sukumar (AIADMK), 49th ward member, said that there were three open wells and three borewells having water yield in the Thorappadi lake, but water was not being pumped regularly from these sources since only one operator was available for Thorappadi. Baskaran, Corporation Engineer said that an additional operator has been posted in Thorappadi.
Mr. Sukumar said that there were several areas in his ward which did not have pipelines connected to the water supply scheme. Since the borewells in the houses have dried up, the residents were suffering from severe water scarcity. S. Vijayalakshmi (DMK), 12th ward member, said that it is more than 15 days since water was supplied to her ward. She wanted the ‘veli kathan’ trees in the vacant sites of the Corporation in East Gandhinagar to be removed in order to conserve the groundwater.
The Mayor said that the work on the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme under which water is to be transported from Cauvery River near Mettur to Vellore district is making rapid progress, and that the scheme was likely to be completed in another six months.
Till then, the existing water supply would be streamlined, she said.
