More than 200 farmers, staff of various central and state government departments, representatives of NGOs, and academic institutions underwent a two-day training programme in ‘aquifer information and management on participatory approach’ at the Periyar University.
The tier-III training programme was organised jointly by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), South Eastern Coastal Region, Chennai; Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training and Research Institute, Raipur, in association with the Department of Geology of Periyar University here.
Lectures
The scientists and resource persons from CGWB and other departments gave technical lectures on aquifer mapping project of the country and capacity building. The main objective of the training was to disseminate information on aquifers, need for aquifer mapping, managing and protecting ground water for sustainability with people’s participation.
A.Subburaj, Scientist, Head of the office of the CHWB, in his lecture on the topic ‘village level aquifer management plan and its importance’, explained the importance of the local people to know the ground water position under their own feet, so that they could manage the resource by adopting different local techniques. Sivakumar, scientist, CGWB, spoke on ‘climatic variability and its impact on water resources’.
K. Kumaresan, scientist, delivered a lecture on ‘Hydrogeology of Tamil Nadu with special reference to Salem district’.
S. Venkateswaran, Professor, Periyar University, explained the sources of fluoride in ground water.
R. Ramasamy, Executive Engineer, Ground Water division of the Public Works Department, explained the impact of large diameter shafts in River Vasishta flowing in Salem district.
Stephen, Head of the Department, Vinayaga Mission Dental College, spoke on the impacts of fluoride in human health.
Scientists and experts also spoke on the topics ‘ground water regime monitoring’, ‘ground water quality monitoring’, ‘use of geophysics in aquifer delineation’, ‘rain water harvesting and artificial recharge to ground water at village level’ etc.
On the second day, elocution, poetry, skit contests on the theme ‘water conservation’ was held in which a large number of farmers and others participated and displayed their talent and the expertise knowledge they possessed on the importance of conserving water. Interaction session also formed part of the two-day event.
