Voice of Water Association, a Coimbatore-based organisation, has urged the State Government to implement a few schemes to help the people south of the Coimbatore tide over drought.
A release said that the Government should divert the excess water in River Noyyal – around 10 thousand million cubic feet – in Ottarpalayam and channelise the same by constructing a canal for 15 km to take the water to the parched regions in Sultanpet and Kinathuukadavu and finally drain the water in the 400-acre Godhavadi tank.
If the Government were to do so, 40 villagers would stand to gain as the groundwater level would increase.
Likewise if the Government were to divert to areas west of Sultanpet the excess water in PAP (Parambikulam Aliyar Project) Canal through the main canal that passes through Senjeripirivu, the villages there would stand to gain.
The Association clarified that the people’s demand was for diverting the water only when there was no flow in River Noyyal and that was not for irrigation but to meet drinking water needs.
The other project that the Government should approve of was to channelise to the aforementioned areas the treated water from the Coimbatore Corporation’s sewage treatment plant in Ondipudur to fill the tanks there.
The Association made those requests because in areas west of Sultanpet and east of Kinathukadavu in the two panchayat unions, the lack of water had wilted coconut trees and affected economic activity. Water bodies in the regions were last filled up 15 years ago. And, people there were on the verge of migration in search of livelihood.
Farmers were deep in debt, and the groundwater level had touched 1,500 feet.
On the benefits of implementing the schemes, the Association said that when the water level improved in 70-odd villages, economic activity would increase.
Use of pump sets to draw water would reduce leading to reduction in power consumption. Drinking water needs of people in over 70 villages would be met and areas south of the Coimbatore city would develop as much as those in the north.