Do you get Cauvery water in your area? This is the first question that pops up in the mind of every resident when they meet.
The entire district has been reeling under acute water scarcity owing to drying up of Corporation’s borewells, wells in the Palar River and private borewells. Enquires with a cross-section of residents reveal that they have been receiving Cauvery water.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
“I drank the water. It is sweet”, said a resident of Gandhinagar. But they are unsure about what they get is Cauvery water or not. While the trial run of the Rs.1295-crore Combined Drinking Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) which provides water from the Cauvery River at Thottilpatti village downstream of Mettur Dam and upstream of Checkanur barrage in Salem district commenced in March, supply of treated water commenced partially in April, after treatment at the 181-MLD capacity full-scale treatment plant in Checkanur.
Now, 60 million litres per day (MLD) of treated Cauvery water is being supplied to the Vellore Corporation, 11 municipalities, five town panchayats and 915 out of the planned 944 rural habitations, covering 95 per cent of the targeted 18.68 lakh population, according to sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board.
The remaining 29 rural habitations left out are in Arcot panchayat union which could not be supplied water owing to the refusal of permission of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to the TWAD Board to lay the main pipelines owing to NHAI’s six-laning work and the need for acquisition of land for the same. Besides, 14 overhead tanks (OHTs) of the Vellore Corporation in the Alamelu Mangapuram area could also not be linked under CWSS because of the same problem.
ADVERTISEMENT
“But, we are making efforts to supply Cauvery water to these areas as well so that no rural habitation is left out”, said a TWAD Board spokesman.
The municipalities that are covered under the scheme are Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Gudiyatham, Pernambut, Arcot, Ranipet, Walajapet, Arakkonam, Jolarpet and Melvisharam, while the town panchayats covered are Alangayam, Natrampalli, Odugathur, Pallikonda and Udayendram. With most of the old and existing sources of drinking water for the municipalities and town panchayats and many rural habitations which draw water from the Palar River having gone dry, it is the Cauvery River which is currently quenching the thirst of 95 per cent of the people of Vellore district.
Link to OHTs
In Vellore Corporation, Cauvery water has been linked to 104 out of the 134 existing OHTs, and 19 out of the 20 new OHTs constructed under CWSS.
As for the 30 existing OHTs (in the Allapuram, Thorappadi areas) which are yet to be linked, trial run is nearing completion, and is expected to be completed within a week.
The lone new OHT which is yet to be built is in Vinayakapuram at the foothill on the eastern side of the Filter Bed Road, where the delay was due to the delay in land acquisition.
This too would be completed in another 15 days, said the TWAD Board spokesman.