The Hindu        26.08.2014 

Corporation wants to maintain Kurichi Tank

Coimbatore Corporation moves State Government to take control of Kurichi Tank.

Coimbatore Corporation has sought permission from the Public Works Department’s Water Resource Organisation to maintain the Kurichi Tank. According to sources, the civic body had written to the State Government in this regard sometime last month.

If the civic body gets the green signal, it will be the ninth water body under its maintenance. The other eight being Narasampathy Tank, Krishnampathy Tak, Selvampathy Tank, Kumarasamy Tank, Selva Chinthamani Tank, Big Tank, Valangulam and Singanallur Tank.

The corporation took over the maintenance of the tanks in January 2010 saying that encroachments had increased, growth of thorny bushes was heavy, the bunds had to be strengthened, silt had to be removed, the water that flowed into the tanks should be treated, and gardens had to be developed on the bunds.

The corporation prepared a proposal for Rs. 200 crore, then revised it subsequently in 2013-14 to Rs. 232 crore. It was sent to various State Government departments. Based on the Government’s advice, the corporation on Monday decided to take up the maintenance of Narasampathy Tank, Krishnampathy Tank, Selvampathy Tank, and Kumarasamy Tank in the first phase at Rs. 29.47 crore with funds granted under the Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban Development Project.

But the corporation’s move to gain control of the Kurichi Tank has not gone down well with environment activists, who argue that the civic body does not have the expertise to look after the tanks.

The civic body has not done much work in the last three years on the eight tanks under its control. Kurichi will be no different.

As part of the River Noyyal ecosystem, it is better if the tanks are under the control of one agency — the Water Resource Organisation, which has got the expertise.

The activists say that the civic body is short of staff as well.

The corporation’s lack of expertise can be offset if it gets WRO engineers on deputation just as it has planned to take on board engineers from the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board on deputation to oversee water supply schemes, says K. Mylswami of Siruthuli.

He says it will be easy for the corporation to act against the encroachers when it takes up the cleaning of the tanks as it can also look at relocating and providing housing to the people evicted.

Corporation sources say the move to take control of the Kurichi Tank is only logical as the tank is within the city limits and has a direct impact on the groundwater level, something that is of direct concern to it.

The Hindu        19.08.2014  

Siruvani continues to overflow

Water flowing out of Siruvani Dam.— Photo: K. Ananthan

For almost a fortnight now water has been overflowing from the Siruvani Dam — something that has not happened in the recent past. According to sources, ever since the water level touched and surpassed the full reservoir level of 49.50 feet on August 2, there has been a steady flow of water into the reservoir.

In the last week, the water level has remained above the full reservoir level, though the rainfall remained negligible, and the quantity of water drawn to the city was a constant at over 101 million litres a day.

The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board sources said that on August 11 the rainfall at the reservoir was 2mm, on August 12 it was 40mm, on August 13 nil, August 14 1mm, August 15 22mm, August 16 33mm, August 17 1mm, and August 18 2mm.

The water position in the reservoir, and the over-100 mld supply had moved the Coimbatore Corporation to supply Siruvani water on alternate days to 26 Wards in full, and another eight to 10 Wards in part.

The result of the improved Siruvani supply had resulted in improvements in Pilloor supply to residents in the East Zone. The water supply now stood at once in seven — eight days, up from the once in 14 days supply, said K.R. Jayaram, Chairman, East Zone.

The once-in-14-days supply happened when the Corporation diverted Pilloor water to meet the shortfall in Siruvani-fed areas.

Mr. Jayaram said that the water supply situation in East Zone would further improve as and when the TWAD Board completed the construction of the overhead tanks as part of the Pilloor I extension project. Two tanks would soon come into use.

The East Zone would see further improvement in supply once the Corporation completed 5.40km pipeline laying work connecting the Pilloor main storage tank in Ganapathy with the tank in DGR Nagar. This will help supply water once in three or four days.