Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

“Irrigation tanks should be preserved, even if they have no ayacuts”

MADURAI: Irrigation tanks do not lose their relevance when they lose their ayacut and hence they should be protected, Assistant Professor from Thiagarajar Engineering College S. Chandran said.

Making a presentation at a Reader Connect programme organised here on Saturday, Mr. Chandran said that the irrigation tanks would recharge the ground water. He regretted that many irrigation tanks in the city were lost due to urbanisation.

“Now, 100 new tanks will come up in the city limits when its boundaries expand to the neighbouring local bodies. Every effort should be taken to preserve them,” he said. Stating that the city could not depend on the limited resources of the Periyar and Vaigai reservoirs for its future expansion, he advocated the “Chennai model” of converting the huge irrigation tanks into water sources for the city. Bigger tanks like Madakulam, Thenkal, Vandiyur, Nilayur and Kunnathur tanks could be used for the purpose.

He said the encroachments on the tanks and their feeder channels should be removed and protected. Mr. Chandran also suggested the city to provide a second pipeline to distribute untreated water to the households for purposes other than drinking and cooking. “We cannot waste the treated water that is being used for gardening, washing, and bathing,” he said.

During the interaction a retired professor, Vijayakumar, lamented about the pathetic condition of the Vaigai river along the banks in the city limits. “The river is used as dumping yard. The corporation should consider taking the help of the students of educational institutions along the river to sensitise the people to conservation of the river.

Senior journalist Narayanan stressed the need for reviving the tanks of Koodal Azhagar Perumal temple and Sri Prasanna Venkatachalapathy temple with rain water harvesting. An advocate, Gopinath, wanted the authorities to check illegal tapping of ground water by hundred of tankers in and around the city limits. He was against commercial exploitation of the groundwater.

Rajendran, a teacher suggested construction of a series of check dams with shutters across the Vaigai river to conserve water. Another participant, Balaji proposed to create new tanks while a retired Government officer, Devaraj, said the Government agencies that should refrain from taking over tanks for construction activities.

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