The Hindu 16.04.2013
Decrease in drinking water supply from Cauvery
Residents of Namakkal Town have started experiencing
drought as the frequency of drinking water supplied by Namakkal
Municipality has gone up from once in two or three days to once in eight
to 10 days. Unavailability of water for domestic purposes has forced
people to depend on private water suppliers.
Municipal Chairman R. Karigalan told
The Hindu
that 10 wells of the local body that drew about 90 lakh litres of
drinking water to residents of this town from the River Cauvery everyday
are able to pump only 40 to 45 lakh litres of water everyday, as flow
of water in the river is not more than in a small stream due to poor
rainfall and less availability of water from Mettur Dam.
A
few weeks ago, the municipality built a small check dam-like structure
using sand for a stretch of 2 km using earthmovers to divert water
flowing in the river to the place where wells that pump water to the
municipality are located.
“But this was not successful as water was drawn for schemes for irrigation before it reached the wells,” he said.
Mr. Karigalan said that the municipality was now working on its latest effort to draw water from the river.
“Laying
pipelines is underway from the middle of the river where water is
flowing in the shallow region to pump it to the place where the wells
are located.
The water will be pumped into the sand
around them to filter water before it is reaches the well and is
dispensed to the residents,” the Chairman added.
He
also made an appeal to the State Government and the district
administration to consider prioritising distribution of water from the
river to meet the drinking water requirement of the people, than using
it for irrigation, till the drought comes to an end.
Municipal
officials said that groundwater level was poor in and around the town
but efforts had been taken to identify more places where borewells could
be dug to draw water. The officials also asked people to avoid wasting
water and to boil water before drinking.
Project
Mr.
Karigalan said that preparation of a detailed project proposal for Rs.
100 crore to draw water from the check dam at Jaderpalayam, about 40 km
from Namakkal town, was in progress to work out a long term solution for
the drinking water scarcity faced by the people of the town.
