When hundreds of ‘Kanmais’ (waterbodies) in the district went bone dry after the failure of northeast monsoon, 50 odd ooranies (waterbodies) under the municipal limit here were brimming with water thanks to the diversion of Vaigai water from the big tank.
After the government had ordered release of water from Vaigai dam in December last, primarily for wetting the riverbeds and meeting the drinking water requirements, the district administration, instead of storing the water in the big tank, effectively utilised the water by filling up as many as 52 ooranies to tackle drinking water crisis.
Soon after the big tank received about 400 mcft of water, Collector S. Natarajan and recently transferred Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) R. Baby drew a master plan to divert the water to the ooranies and successfully implemented the plan despite a stiff opposition while removing encroachments on channel ways.
The ooranies brimming with water included the historic Mugavai, Lakshimipuram, Neelakandi and Nochi Ooranies, the major waterbodies, which served as sources of reservoirs to meet the drinking water needs of the residents in the municipality.
“The credit goes to Ms. Baby who had worked day and night to clear the channels from encroachments,” said M. Tamilselvan, president of Rotary Club of Golden Ramnad, who supported the work.
After Mr. Natarjan advised her to focus on the work, Ms Baby stood in the front and successfully brought water to the ooranies. The district police too lent a helping hand, making available ‘police strength’ even at odd hours, when she faced problems in removing encroachments.
The district administration was ably supported by Syed Ammal Trust helping to renovate the Mugavai and Lakshmipuram Ooranies and the channels from the big tank to the two waterbodies at the total cost of ₹62 lakh.
Thanks to the filling up of the ooranies, the groundwater table had risen substantially, bringing copious water to the residential wells, said K. Nagarajan, former councillor.
Kattu Oorani, located 10 km from big tank, was the farthest waterbody to receive water in the exercise and the district administration would have cleared channels for total distance of about 40 km.
In some areas, even drainage canals were cleaned to pump water to fill the dry ooranies.
