Intrusion of seawater had affected the quality of drinking water being supplied to residents of a few hamlets in Kanyakumari district, said villagers at a fishermen grievance redress meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday.
Raising the issue at the monthly meeting, the participants said the district administration planned to construct a check dam across the Tamirabharani at Kuzhithurai to ensure that water stagnated around infiltration wells to counter the saline seawater intruding into the groundwater during dry seasons. However, the proposal got shelved for no reason and consequently seawater intruded into the land for about 12 km.
Since this phenomenon had affected the quality of water being supplied to the residents of Simon Colony, Kodimunai, Kurumbanai and Vaaniyakudi, they were buying drinking water every day. “We’ve been forced to buy a pot of drinking water for ₹5. Taking into account the seriousness of the situation, the district administration should make immediate efforts for constructing the check dam across the Tamirabharani, which alone can desalinate water being supplied from the infiltration wells,” said Xavier, former president of Vaaniyakudi Cooperative Society.
Revenue Divisional Officer S. Elango, while admitting that seawater had intruded into the land, attributed the problem to monsoon failure. “There are four infiltration wells at Kuzhithurai. Since we did not have sufficient rainfall during the monsoon, seawater intrusion had intensified. To mitigate this problem, we’ve planned to stack sandbags around the infiltration wells to ensure water stagnation. We’ll complete this exercise within the next 10 days. But a good flow of water in the river alone is the permanent solution for this problem,” Mr. Elango said.
He also informed that the Block Development Officers had been instructed to sink deep borewells in places where there was an acute shortage of water supply.
