Drinking water crisis has been acute in rural areas of Pudukottai district over the last two years due to the severe depletion of groundwater caused by continuous failure of monsoon. A number of village panchayats in and around Kundrandarkovil block in the district are some of the worst affected.
Village panchayats such as Moottampatti, Vaithoor, Andakulam, Sinaiyakudi, Periya Thambi Udayanpatti, Pomboor, Killanur, Veerakudi, and Tirumalairayapuram have been witnessing a crisis .
Villagers of Mootampatti and nearby areas depend on farm borewells for their water needs. At a few villages, panchayat presidents have made arrangements for supplying drinking water through tankers.
“Though water is available in some borewells they could not be pumped out due to the prolonged power cuts,” says G.S.Dhanapathy, district chairman, Farmers’ Forum of India. Drinking water shortage has even pushed farm irrigation woes to the background, he ruefully says. Livestock owners are the worst hit. V.N.Dinakaran, founder, Mahatma Gandhi Samooga Nala Peravai, said a long-term plan should be implemented on a war-footing. Schemes such as interlinking of rivers and the Coleroon surplus scheme must be implemented to meet the irrigational and drinking water needs of farmers and residents.
