Singanallur Tank, one of the 31 tanks linked to the Noyyal river system and the Urban Biodiversity Conservation Zone of Coimbatore Corporation, on Tuesday became the first waterbody in the city to have a weather station.
The weather station’s censors are equipped to collect 10 weather parameters such as air temperature, humidity, wind velocity, wind direction, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, evaporation, rainfall, soil moisture and soil temperature round the clock.
District Collector K. Rajamani inaugurated the weather station sponsored by SSVM Institutions in the presence of Commissioner of Coimbatore Corporation Sravan Kumar Jatavat, Deputy Commissioner S. Prasanna Ramasamy, wildlife photographer T.R. Arundhavaselvan, volunteers of the Centre for Urban Biodiversity Conservation and Education (CUBE) and students from the Masakkalipalayam Corporation Middle School and Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Vidyalaya.
On the sidelines of the inauguration, Mr. Rajamani said that Singanallur Tank, which had seen steady growth as an Urban Biodiversity Conservation Zone, also had the potential to become a bird sanctuary like Vedanthangal sanctuary. Volunteers of CUBE had been asked to identify more stakeholders for the development of the tanks and come out with a vision report, he said.
“The district administration is doing various efforts to reach Jal Shakti Abhiyan to improve the condition of water bodies. To recharge the groundwater table, ₹ 7.45 crore has been allocated for 45 schemes. Also, efforts are being taken to promote rainwater harvesting in private and public buildings,” he said.
Lauding the nature education programme conducted by CUBE at the tank bund, Mr. Rajamani said that children should learn more about nature from such activities than from the text books. He said that the district administration would take steps to ensure the ban on fishing in the tank.
The officials took a walk on the nature trail on the tank bund and interacted with the students.
According to volunteers of CUBE, data generated by the weather station can be accessed any time using a laptop.
