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Sattanur water brings cheer

S. Nadarajan

Rs 35-crore EU funded tank renovation project helps improve storage The storage capacity of a number tanks has been augmented

Pondicherry: Water discharged from Sattanur reservoir in Tiruvannamalai district has brought cheer to the Pondicherry region at the tail end of the river stream promising fast recharge of underground water - a source of relief to farmers and policy makers.

An official source said that both the Northeast and Southwest monsoons would together bring as much as 120 cms rainfall every year here.

The Administration had augmented the storage capacity of a number 84 tanks by strengthening them ahead of onset of the monsoon through a massive Rs 35-crore European Union funded Tank Rehabilitation Programme .

This correspondent today visited a good number of villages and dam sites in the interior pockets. An official source said that the current discharge of water from Sattanur reservoir in Tiruvannamalai district has started filling a majority of tanks in Pondicherry downstream.

Bed dam

The Rs 6 crore bed dam constructed across Pennayyar in Sitheri has come as a boon for the farmers.

The Executive Engineer of PWD (Irrigation), R.Ganesan said that the current mission of the PWD was to harvest rainwater as much as possible and have the sub soil water reacharged to the maximum.

Thangaraju, a local villager, said that farmers had to battle against poor water availability through bore wells prior to the construction of the bed dam.

Borewells had been sunk to a depth of 200 to 250 metres to get good quality water.

After the bed dam had come up and water available from upstream, good water was available at 80 feet through bore wells.

Meanwhile, the Sornavur anicut maintained by Pondicherry PWD at the Sornavar village close to Karayambuthur village of Pondicherry has been receiving around 40,000 cusecs of water released from Sattanur a few days ago.

The last three days had witnessed a heavy flow of water gushing into the anaicut.

The water is being carried through Bangaru canal to Bahoor tank.

Twelve tanks are also getting water on the way to Bahoor from Sornavur discharge.

The PWD has now taken up tank rehabilitation work from out of the State government funds as the European Union project had ended.

The Bahoor tank has received 60 mcft of water so far against its capacity to hold 195 mcft, an official source said.

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