The Times of India              27.05.2013 

Hogenakkal water supply scheme in 2 dists from May 29

CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa will on Wednesday commission the much-awaited Hogenakkal water supply scheme, which will benefit the fluorosis-hit districts of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. The 1,929-crore project will help supply water to 6,755 rural and urban habitations of both districts. The project was initiated by the previous DMK government and will bring some respite to water deficit Tamil Nadu.

Nearly 30 lakh people will get potable drinking water from the scheme, funded by the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation. The project that was initiated in 2008, faces a few hiccups that came in way of its implementation in December last year.

"Initially, three municipalities, 16 town panchayats and 50% of the rural habitations will be covered. In a month or two, the remaining areas will get water in a phased manner," Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board managing director P Ekambaram said. The necessary infrastructure and civil works have been completed for the entire project, while 80% of the work was completed after the AIADMK came to power.

The launching of the project itself triggered controversies, with Karnataka alleging that Tamil Nadu deviated from the original plan to extract additional water for the supply. It also claimed that the project site itself was on a disputed land. This was contested by Tamil Nadu. "Hogenakkal falls within the limits of Tamil Nadu. There is a need for 160 million litres of water a day for the scheme. However, there is a good inflow into Hogenakkal," sources said, adding there would not be any problem in water supply to the identified habitations even during the peak summer.

As per government reports, groundwater in these districts contains much higher fluoride level than the permissible level of 1.5 mg/litre. Dharmapuri has 13mg of fluoride in a litre of water, while it is 9mg/litre in Krishnagiri.