Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Water woe: Preservation of tanks a way out

Photo: S.James

Water block: Plastic waste dumped in water bodies in Madurai has spelt trouble. —

MADURAI: It is 8 a.m. on Sunday. A family living close to the Vaigai river bed eagerly looks forward to the sight of a water tanker parking in front of their home. The father had ordered a ‘tanker-load' of water to complete weekend chores. The motor that pumps water to the overhead tank is a showpiece. The ground water has gone down to abysmal levels. The wait continues till mid day. The family does not know that the tanker had been waylaid and water shared by a group of families living closeby.

A daily wage earner from Karumbalai walks up to a grocery store in K. K. Nagar and buys two coils of a mosquito repellent. A father wakes up at 2 a.m. and swings an ‘electronic bat' to kill mosquitoes that bother his child. A mother buys anti-mosquito cream and spray to protect her family from mosquito bites. These are common scenes in Madurai.

The city receives, on an average, around 850 mm of rainfall in a year. This is much higher than the average rainfall of some Gulf countries, which is between 150 to 200 mm. Despite being a beneficiary of two monsoons, there is water scarcity. The added malady is mosquito menace caused by water stagnation.

Till the early 1980s, water was flowing in the Vaigai; pollution was low; ground water table was fairly good and water scarcity was unheard of as domestic requirement was very low. With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, the water scenario has changed for the worse.

Filling up of water bodies with concrete structures only compounded the problem. In the place of 38 water bodies in and around Madurai, only a handful exists now. The city requires 40.33 lakh million cubic metres of water per annum to quench the thirst of a population of 9.2 lakh people (as per 2001 census).

For a projected population of 28.1 lakh in 2051, it requires 102.64 million cubic metres of water. But where are the sources? The city is heavily dependent on the Periyar and Vaigai Dams, the mercy of the rain gods, the tanks that survive and ground water.

With the issue of restoring the original level of the Periyar dam to 152 feet not likely to be resolved and with the fast depletion of ground water there will be a mismatch between demand and availability.

S. Chandran of the Department of Civil Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, who has been conducting research on the water resources of Madurai district, is optimistic that expansion of the city limits from the present 51.96 square km to a projected local planning area of 726.47 square km will solve the water problem to a large extent.

The simple logic he applies is the availability of surface water. From around 20 tanks, Madurai will have access to over 100 small and big tanks in the local planning area. The water preserved in these tanks will ensure supply for agricultural, domestic and industrial use. The projected availability of water in the event of extension of corporation limits is 236.1 million cubic metres. But there is a word of caution here. The tanks in the extended area should not be used for construction of buildings.

When the urban demands rose in Madurai, big tanks were chosen for construction of buildings on the surmise that their requirement becomes dispensable in the absence of ayacuts for irrigation. Thus, Tallakulam took different forms as Madurai Corporation Building, Madurai Law College, Eco Park and offices of Department of Commercial Taxes. Dr. Chandran argues that though there may not be lands to be irrigated the water bodies recharge the ground water table and prevent pollution of surface water. Care should be taken to preserve these tanks as they are going to sustain life around Madurai, which is becoming a chosen destination for industrial investment.

He moots the ‘Chennai model' for water supply to the city, instead of overburdening the Vaigai dam, whose source is the Periyar dam. Water stored in the Vaigai should be shared appropriately by Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Madurai and Dindigul districts. As Chennai gets its water from the tanks around it, Madurai should also look to the tanks for its supply.

Another ideal source is used water, which is referred to as waste water. “There is no waste water. There is only used water,” he says. Proper treatment of used water will make it eligible to irrigate lands. This will bring down the pressure on water sources to a considerable extent. Attention should be paid for maintaining the existing tanks and treatment of used water.

Today, the focus is elsewhere. Water stagnation and improper water harvesting structures have given more room for mosquito breeding. As a result, a family in Madurai spends an average of Rs 60 per month on mosquito repellents. Assuming that there are 2.5 lakh families spending money to fight mosquitoes, around Rs 18 crore gets vapourised every year.At the individual level, small adjustments in water use will bring about a greater impact. A single drop of water leaking from a tap at home a minute wastes 12,150 litres of water a year!

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