The groundwater level in the district is going down alarmingly causing much hardship to the government agencies and the common people and there is an urgent need to protect the available groundwater, said K. Maharabushanam, District Collector.
Borewells could not fetch water even after digging 1,500 – 1,800 feet. At this juncture, instead of going for new borewells, effective steps should be initiated for protecting the existing ones to save the available water, the Collector said while delivering his inaugural address at a two-day training programme on ‘aquifer information and groundwater management through participatory approach’ held at the Periyar University here on Thursday.
The training programme was organised jointly by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) of South Eastern Coastal Region (SECR), Chennai, under the Union Ministry of Water Resources, Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training and Research Institute, Raipur, and the Department of Geology of Periyar University.
Mr. Maharabushanam said that the rainwater harvesting structures and protection of water bodies by deepening and raising their bunds, the projects implemented by the State Government have proved successful in the district. The benefits of these schemes were informed to the public through various ways.
In the last couple of years, the district administration instead of going for new borewells to meet the drinking water demands, decided to protect the available water by desilting and renovating the existing open wells.
Of the 3,800 open wells available in the district, 700 were identified for the desilting work. This project proved a big success, with 500 wells becoming a perennial source of water in the rural areas ever since they were desilted. One particular well in Ayodhiyapattinam town is providing drinking water for five surrounding villages continuously, much to the delight of the local people, he said.
N. Varadaraj, former member, Central Ground Water Board, Faridabad, delivered key-note address.
Objective
A. Subburaj, Scientist D, and head of the office, CGWB, SERC, said that the main objective of the training programme was to disseminate the information about the aquifers, the need for aquifer, managing and protecting ground water for sustainability with people’s participation.
R. Palnivel, Dean, Periyar University, also spoke.
During the training, scientists and resource persons from CGWB and Periyar University gave technical lectures on aquifer mapping project of the country and capacity building.
About 200 representatives of farmers, personnel from various central and state government departments, other organisations, NGOs, academic institutions, students participated in the event.
