The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Ryots to form water user groups in Thiruvallur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Ryots to form water user groups in Thiruvallur

J. Malarvizhi

Experts recommend revitalising water bodies Experts suggest revitalising water bodies Speakers repeatedly referred to the destruction of the ground water resources of Minjur

THIRUVALLUR: Farmers and village administrators from Ponneri taluk in Thiruvallur district gathered under the aegis of the Citizens' Water Forum to discuss revitalisation of water bodies in the taluk on Sunday. There are 249 water bodies in the taluk, irrigating more than 28,000 hectares.

S. Natesan, Exnora Environmental Research Institute, introduced the concept of Water User Groups to the assembly and urged them to use the Right to Information Act.

The Water User Groups is a scheme introduced by the Public Works Department for agricultural areas, where users of a surface water source on collectively paying a tax of Rs.100 for each acre of the water body can receive a matching grant. The amount can be used by the group for desilting and strengthening the walls of the water body. Bhaskaran, of Azhinjivakkam primary panchayat, said the rapid spread of Chennai's urban sprawl was being made an excuse to destroy water resources of the surrounding areas. The encroachments on lakes gained attention only after the flooding during heavy rain last year, he said. Speakers repeatedly referred to the destruction of the ground water resources of Minjur.

Check dams

Members of existing Water User Groups talked about the importance of setting up check dams and deepening lakes. It was suggested that panchayats be given maps of the existing water bodies that can be displayed prominently to avoid encroachments. It was pointed out that the cost of revitalising water bodies in the Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts was estimated at Rs. 180 crore compared to the estimated Rs. 500 crore for the Chennai desalination project. Nityanand Jayaraman of the Corporate Accountability Desk projected the cost of making water potable through desalination to be around Rs. 45 per 1,000 litres, while sourcing the same amount from Red Hills would cost just Rs. 4.

The Assembly resolved that water user groups would be formed for all lakes, encroachments identified and removed, maps of water bodies made available, that silt from lakes should be sold instead of sand quarried from river beds and check dams be constructed for every two kilometres of a river's length. The Chennai Water Forum has now been renamed as the Citizens' Water Forum following requests of those in the peri-urban zones for fora in their areas, said the Chennai-based members of the Forum.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu