The prevailing drought conditions and the acute drinking water scarcity witnessed in the nook and corner of the district have proved a matter of serious concern to both the district administration and the common public alike.
A majority of the existing borewells have gone dry and the ground water level has gone down alarmingly even before the commencement of summer.
Even while the district authorities are leaving no stone unturned to ensure regular supply of drinking water in both the urban and rural areas, the farming community has come out with a worthy suggestion of reviving all the defunct open farm wells on a war footing to meet the drinking water needs during the next few months.
All the blocks in the district have a large number of open farm wells. Every farm in the villages is accounted for an open well, for irrigating the plants. The farmers till a decade ago adopted the unique traditional ‘yetram’ irrigation system for drawing water from open wells. Later motor pump sets were fitted in all open wells for drawing water.
With the advent of borewells, the open wells almost lost their importance. With the passage of time, the farmers totally avoided the open wells and took no interest in maintaining them. Many of the giant open wells turned defunct and at present have become a thing of the past.
The government is coming out with announcements on the allotment of additional funds to tackle drinking water problem in the next few months and the farmers have come to its aid with a suggestion of reviving all the open wells.
A.R. Shanmugam, president, Panamarathupatti Yerigal Pathugappu Sangam, raised this issue at the recent farmers grievances day meeting and called upon the district administration to allocate special funds for reviving all the defunct open wells. Many of the wells could be desilted and deepened by spending little amount, he told The Hindu. The funds could also be utilised for strengthening the retention walls, so that these wells could serve for many more years. These wells will get copious water during the monsoon period, which will help in recharging the ground water level to a very big extent. This water will come handy for the cattle.
Fodder shortage
In this regard he said that many farmers in the rural areas are selling their cattle for pittance due to shortage of fodder and water.
Mr. Shanmugam said that many local bodies have already revived the defunct bore wells across the district by allotting special funds. They have constructed rain water harvesting type structure around the failed bore wells and the flow of rain water has helped in re-charging them.
The district administration could take a similar initiative and revive the open farm wells too.
At a time when the farmers are not willing to sink new borewells by spending huge amount due to apprehension that they may not yield water, renovating the existing open wells was the only viable alternative, he said.
