The Hindu 05.04.2013
Check dam across Cauvery to be ready by end of June
in full swing:Work in progress at the construction site of the check dam
across the Cauvery in Tiruchi on Wednesday. —Photo: M. Moorthy
PWD pushing ahead to finish work before next irrigation season
With the ground water table depleting rapidly in view of
the drought like conditions, Tiruchi Corporation has just begun to dig
additional borewells on the river bed. Next summer, it will most likely
be spared of the trouble. Just a few metres downstream the place where
the borewells are being dug up, men and machines are working at a
feverish pace building a check dam that is expected to put an end to the
worries of the city water managers caused by the drying of the
borewells.
The city’s water sources on the river bed
are mostly likely to be surrounded by water retained by the check dam
once water is released from Mettur reservoir for the next irrigation
season.
Though it dealt a blow to the farmers in the
delta, the early end to the irrigation season last year owing to
insufficient storage at Mettur dam provided an extended window to the
public works authority to expedite the construction of the check dam
near Kambarasampettai, just a few metres away from the city’s main water
sources.
Work has been in full swing since December
after the water dried up in the river. Although the work is scheduled
for completion only in February next year, as per the contract, nearly
75 per cent of the work has already been completed.
PWD sources told
The Hindu
that they were hoping to complete all the works on the river bed by the
end of June, before release of water from Mettur the next irrigation
season, barring unusual heavy rain during the summer. “We are working
towards completing 95 per cent of the project works by the end of June.
Effectively, all works on check dam structure on the river bed will have
been completed by then, though strengthening of the river bunds on both
sides will take a couple of more months,” said a PWD officer.
The
check dam was sanctioned at a cost of Rs.32 crore following a public
outcry over the heavy exploitation of the river bed for a slew of
drinking water schemes catering to the needs of various cities and towns
as far as Ramanathapuram. Farmers of the region have been left worried
over the drastic fall in water table during the summer months.
The
structure will run for a length of 550 metres and stand about 1.5
metres in height from the bed level. It will head up water for a stretch
of 1.50 km upstream and provide a continuous wetting of the river bed
so as to keep the drinking water collector wells sufficiently recharged,
especially in the summer. The check dam will also help recharge ground
water table for a radius of about four to five km. Construction of the
apron, the cut-off and toe walls has been completed. The body and
retaining walls are being built currently. Once this is completed, six
sand vents will be built.
