Water conservation discussed

If Coimbatore could achieve a lot in water conservation with an average rainfall of 650 mm a year, Madurai could do wonders with an average rainfall of 850 mm, said Vanitha Mohan, Managing Trustee of the Coimbatore-based NGO Siruthuli and Executive Director of Pricol.

At a discussion organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry –Young Indians (YI) at Thiagarajar College of Engineering here on Tuesday, she spoke on the possibility of replicating the model used in Coimbatore for rejuvenating the tanks in Madurai.

Ms. Vanitha explained how Siruthuli worked closely with various stakeholders in de-silting eight tanks in Coimbatore since 2003 apart from constructing 500 rainwater harvesting structures and planting more than 5 lakh saplings. She said that the Coimbatore model was successful because of the financial support from the corporate, determined effort by the district administration in removing encroachments and contribution of people from all walks of life.

Seeking support from Siruthuli, Madurai Collector L. Subramanian said that effort was made last year with the participation of locals to restore the Vandiyur tank because of which the groundwater level in the area had already improved.

He said Sellur, Vandiyur and Madakulam tanks reached their full capacity this year due over 1000 mm of rainfall so far this year.

K. Thiagarajan, Executive Director of Thiagarajar Mills and Chairman of YI Madurai, spoke at the function.