CHENNAI: “There are 1,129 firkas (groups of villages) in Tamil Nadu, of which 435 are safe and 374 have over-exploited their groundwater reserves and 48 are critical while 335 are semi-critical,” said M Shanmugam, Special Secretary, Industries, at the Water Conclave organised by The New Indian Express and Nippon Paint in association with the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.
Shanmugam said active measures were being taken by the government to address the situation. The Tamil Nadu Water Investment Company (TWIC) was “seriously working on finding alternative solutions” to the issue.
Finding solutions was one of the core aspects of the conclave which took place at a city hotel. The event saw an active participation of a number of stakeholders including companies, students and activists. The sessions were lively and interesting with pertinent questions raised over the current situation regarding water conservation and constructive ways to improve self-reliance when it came to water.
The Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, inaugurated the event and he promoted desalination as an effective solution to resolve water problems. “We need to talk about water, how to manage, conserve and ensure that every segment of the society, be rich or poor, get adequate water to sustain a decent living,” he said. “The government should extend the capacity of the existing reservoirs to store the rainwater in greater quantity so that there will be no shortage of drinking water and should think of desalination as a solution that will bring everlasting happiness to all of us.”
A central theme that emerged through all discussions was that while development is important, it should not be at the cost of the environment.
“The economy is a byproduct of ecology,” said Dr Jaishankar Pandey, senior scientist at CSIR — National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). “Money is a converted form of ecology... Environmental engineering is closer to electrical engineering and we have to establish the cause-effect relationship to find solutions. If you cut trees in a particular ecosystem, it is not useful to plant trees of different varieties somewhere else.”
Dr Pandey also said he was against inter-linking of rivers which was another major point widely debated at the conclave.
AV Nathan, ex-Chairman of the Krishna Water Board, too, brought up the challenges concomitant with inter-linking of rivers. “Interlinking takes a long time in terms of not just regulation and clearances but also practically it cannot serve immediate use,” he said. “We should look at increasing the strength of farmers as that is important for self reliance... We must give them (farmers) power and strength as that is more important for water restoration.”
K Phanindra Reddy, Secretary, Handicrafts and Textiles, emphasised the need for improving water efficiency in agriculture and industry while highlighting the role of watchdog organisations.
“Watch dog organisations are needed to shadow the developments and degradations and galvanise action for restoration,” Reddy said. “Promotion of organic farming in the catchment areas, 100% coverage of garbage collection and processing and 100% coverage of UGSS (underground sewerage schemes) or septage management and promotion of the zero liquid discharge policy of which Tamil Nadu is a pioneer are all solutions that can be looked into.”