The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Participatory management vital'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 24, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Participatory management vital'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MARCH 23. It is imperative for Tamil Nadu to manage its water resources judiciously. For, water availability is getting acute every year, the Cauvery Technical Cell chairman, A. Mohanakrishnan, said today.

By 2025, the total deficit in the State would be 49 thousand million cusecs. Unless there was participatory management of the resources by water users and the Government, the situation was likely to become grim, he said, addressing the Alumni Association of the College of Engineering, Guindy here.

`Adopt IAAP'

He suggested implementation of an irrigation assessment and action plan (IAAP) in all river systems. Farmers and officials attached to a particular system should meet every week to assess the total availability of water and how to utilise it judiciouslyfor the next seven days. They should meet again a week after to plan for the next seven days based on the performance of the previous week. This action plan would help officials monitor the use of water in a particular river system.

As the State was water-deficit, it would have to use the resources judiciously. Construction of more storage points to arrest runoff rainwater, sharing water in times of distress, irrigation supply by turns and going for less water consuming crops were some ways of saving water during scarcity,besides setting up more storage points whenever there was more rainfall.

The concept of water import had come to stay in the State. Telugu Ganga to meet Chennai requirements, the Periyar-Vaigai system to irrigate areas in south Tamil Nadu and the Parabikulam-Aliyar scheme for western Tamil Nadu were some of the projects under which the State was importing water from neighbours. More such schemes were in the offing.

There must be a give-and-take policy between the water-rich and deficit States for equitable distribution, said Prof. Mohanakrishnan.

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