Urban News

Source : The Hindu Date : 16.06.2009

Drinking water crisis looms over city, suburbs

Special Correspondent

Photo: Siva Saravanan

TIGHT SITUATION: The lull in the monsoon is impacting the drinking water position in the Siruvani Dam. —

COIMBATORE: A dormant South West Monsoon is pushing the city and the suburbs towards a drinking water crisis as the water level in the Siruvani Dam keeps dipping. One half of the 105 sq.km. city, three municipalities and about 10 panchayats are dependent on this scheme.

Predictions of an early onset of the monsoon had raised hopes in the local bodies of the water position easing a bit in the first week of June. But, after an initial burst of rain in the Siruvani catchment, the monsoon does not offer anything now to the dam.

Official sources in the Corporation say the dam has not recorded any rainfall over the last three to four days. It ranged from two mm to five mm prior to that. But, this too was not on a daily basis. The water level has receded to a point below all the three nozzles at the intake tower in the dam, they say. It is around 20 ft as against the full reservoir level of 67 ft.

The Coimbatore Corporation has already re-scheduled the supply of Siruvani water to once-in-four days, a measure it last resorted to at the peak of crisis during summer in 2001 and also in 2003. When the revised schedule was being announced this year, 20 mm to 30 mm rain in the catchment provided hopes of a good monsoon enabling the local body to withdraw the schedule soon.

But, there has hardly been any improvement in the situation. While the Corporation says its provides Siruvani water once in four or five days, residents in many areas such as Ramnagar lament that they have not got drinking water for the last 10 days. The local bodies in the suburbs are struggling to make a supply even once in 10 days. Veerakeralam Town Panchayat’s case seems to be pathetic.

It’s president V.T. Bakthavathsalam laments: “We are able to supply water only once in 17 days because of the situation in the Siruvani Dam.”

While the Corporation gets 40 million litres a day (mld), the other local bodies have to share 10 mld.

The sources in the Corporation point out that the situation can turn worse if the monsoon does not revive in a week. The effect of a poor monsoon last year is already being felt now. A good monsoon till September will not only do the rescue act for this year, but will also be an investment for the next summer.

Source : The Times of India Date : 15.06.2009

Nanmangalam Farmers Hit As Water Begins To Turn Unfit For Irrigation

D Madhavan | TNN

Chennai: Since last year, R Selvakumar has stopped taking water from the Nanmangalam lake and has been irrigating his farm with well water. Reason: the water in the lake has become unfit for use, thanks to the indiscriminate discharge of waste from a nearby complex of 300 independent houses.

The complex, which came up three years ago in Jayendra Nagar of Sembakkam, has a sewage treatment plant where waste water from all the houses is collected. While the treated water is used for gardening, the untreated portion is let out into the lake. Ironically, a signboard in front of the lake (facing the complex) warns that action would be initiated under the Lakes Protection and Removal of Encroachments Enforcement Act 2007 against the dumping of garbage and discharge of contaminated water and other effluents into the lake.

Nanmangalam, one of the important panchayats in the southern suburbs where farming is still the main occupation, has more than 700 active farmers with 500 acres of farmland. These people, most of them marginal farmers, now either depend on farmwells or wait till the monsoon sets in.

Over the past few years, the yield per acre on farms, irrigated with water from the lake, has fallen by almost half — crops have become less resistant to pests. “The normal yield is 30 bags per acre (one bag weighs 75 kg of paddy); last year it fell to 15 kg in my land. I used water from the lake for irrigation,” said farmer K Purushothaman.

The polluted water in the lake has also led to a decline in fishing — an alternative source of livelihood for farmers during the lean season. “Since the discharge of waste water from the apartment complex began, fishing has gradually declined. Hundreds of fish have died in the past few years,” said B Sudhakar, a resident.One of the main reasons for the failure of the local body in acting against the residential complex is that though a major portion of the lake is within the Nanmangalam panchayat limits, a part of it and the apartment complex come under the Sembakkam town panchayat (the distance between the complex and the lake is less than 50 metres).

“We are not discharging any waste water into the lake. We have a treatment plant where we treat sewage generated in the complex,” said K M Chiti Babu of the residents’ welfare association. But sources in the Nanmangallam village panchayat said, “Whenever there are reports in the media about the discharge of waste water into the lake, the residents stop it for a few days only to resume later. Being a complicated issue of jurisdiction between two local bodies, it woud be better if the Kancheepuram district administration intervenes and ends the problem.”

CHOKING IT SLOWLY

Nanmangalam lake is located 25km south of Chennai and is considered to be one of the biggest waterbodies among nearly 300 waterbodies in the southern suburbs of the city

Primarly, the lake is used to irrigate most of the 500 acres of farmlands in Nanmangalam village panchayat
Varieties of fish species including cat fish are found in the lake. Large number of crabs are also caught and sold for consumption