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Tamil Nadu News Papers

Metrowater resumes drawal of water from Veeranam tank

Friday, 21 August 2009 04:12
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The Hindu 21.08.2009

Metrowater resumes drawal of water from Veeranam tank

K.Lakshmi

Thanks to good inflow from the Mettur reservoir

 

The quantum of drawal will be stepped up to 180 mld in the coming days

Metrowater set to create awareness about significance of harvesting rainwater

CHENNAI: After a gap of three months, Chennai Metrowater started drawing water from the Veeranam tank for city supply, from Thursday.

Officials of Metrowater said that they had stopped taking water from the tank after it dried up. With the tank recently getting inflow from Mettur reservoir, Metrowater has decided to draw about 40-50 million litres of water a day.

The quantum of drawal would be stepped up to 180 mld in the coming days. The present storage level of the tank is 376 million cubic feet (mcft) whereas its capacity is 1,465 mcft.

Once the water supply from the tank is stabilised, the additional quantum of water taken from the city reservoirs, including from Chembarambakkam, would be reduced in a few days. Moreover, the extraction of about 30 mld of water from Neyveli borewells would also be maintained for a week.

With the combined storage level of the four city reservoirs dropping to 3,183 mcft as against the capacity of 11,057 mcft, the water from Veeranam tank would help augment the daily water supply till the onset of the northeast monsoon.

Rainwater harvesting

Metrowater is also all set to create awareness about the significance of harvesting rainwater to improve the groundwater level and quality. It proposes to hold free seminars on installation of RWH structures and maintenance during September and October.

Officials of Metrowater said on an average, there has been a rise in the water table by 4.5 m to 5 m across the city in the past four years, thanks to RWH system.

“We receive nearly 300 enquiries on our helpline (28454080) about RWH maintenance between August and October every year. We have decided to conduct seminars at the training centre in Kilpauk on Mondays and Fridays.

Residents will also be given technical guidance to check the maintenance of the RWH structures,” an official said.

Besides reaching out to school and college students through lectures, radio programmes and advertising on buses have also be planned as part of the campaign.

Metrowater depot offices would be involved in door-to-door campaign, the official said.

Last Updated on Friday, 21 August 2009 04:13
 

Water samples taken from Kamaraj Sagar Dam for pollution tests

Thursday, 20 August 2009 05:19
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The Hindu 20.08.2009

Water samples taken from Kamaraj Sagar Dam for pollution tests

Special Correspondent

Committee constituted to look into the issue and conduct detailed survey

Photo: Special Arrangement

Is it polluted?: Officials taking a sample from a water source at Indunagar near the Kamaraj Sagar Dam on Wednesday. —

Udhagamandalam: A committee has been constituted to look into the problem of pollution in the Kamaraj Sagar Dam and conduct a detailed survey, the Nilgiris Collector Anandrao V.Patil said here on Wednesday.

Members

He told The Hindu that the committee headed by the District Revenue Officer Prabhakaran comprised nine members including the Assistant Executive Engineer, Pollution Control Board; the Assistant Director, Fisheries; Municipal Commissioner; the Assistant Director (Town Panchayat); as well as revenue and TWAD board officials.

The Collector said that samples had been taken at five places on Wednesday.

Pointing out that the condition of the water in the streams flowing into the dam was also being examined, Mr.Patil said that more samples would be taken on Thursday.

Arrangements have been made to send the samples to a laboratory in Chennai in order to be tested for the level of pollution present.

Stating that the source of pollution would be identified, he said that severe action would be taken against those responsible for polluting the water in the dam.

Efforts would be made to keep it pollution free.

The action that was taken by the district administration was in response to a report relating to the polluted condition of the dam, which appeared in these columns on Wednesday.

Report

The report had pointed out that concern was growing over the increasing pollution of the water body and emphasized the need to identify the source by taking samples from various parts of the dam and the reservoirs into which its water flows.

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 August 2009 05:21
 

Chamber hails release of property tax data

Thursday, 20 August 2009 05:14
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The Hindu 20.08.2009

Chamber hails release of property tax data

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the release of data related to property tax on the Internet.

Chamber’s senior president S. Rethinavelu welcomed the move to post door number-wise details of property tax for buildings along their street names in Madurai by the Corporation. In a press release, he said that this move would greatly increase transparency.

Pointing out to earlier complaints of buildings not being assessed for under-assessed for property tax, he said that this move provided an opportunity for the public to bring to the notice of the civic body the buildings that had escaped assessments.

Lauding the Corporation for this proactive step, he said that this would ensure more revenue by orderly and unbiased levying of property tax.

Mr. Rethinavelu also reiterated the Chamber’s demand to Corporation “to remove the disparity in the steep increase in property tax opted by the body since April, 2008 and to reduce the hike to a reasonable level and thus streamline the system.”

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 August 2009 05:17
 
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