KRISHNAGIRI: The 56-year-old A Lakshmanan vividly remembers the days of 2013 when the residents of the bustling Maruthi Nagar in Hosur, along with Bathlapalli villagers, made an attempt to rejuvenate the dying Bathlapalli Lake. All their efforts went in vain as the rainwater failed to reach the lake that season. Lakshmanan didn’t call it quits. He held talks with the residential association, met experts and desilted about 600 meters of the intel channel that was blocking the flow of water. Bathlapalli Lake breathed again and Lakshmanan was reborn as Hosur’s own ‘Lakeman.’
Over time, Lakshmanan was joined by two friends—A Thomas John (50), a construction material shop owner, and M Jagan (70), a retired health department staff—and they became ardent advocates of rainwater harvesting. With their undaunted efforts, around 1,000 houses in Krishnagiri district have opted to harvest rainwater.
The trio strived forward and supported the district administration in rejuvenating lakes in the surroundings of Hosur. “Hosur has a rocky terrain and the percolation pits are not enough to increase the water table. So, we revived the lakes such as Andhivadi, Karnoor, Poonapalli, and Dasarapalli near Hosur. A few lakes attained maximum capacity after a decade and the water table has also increased in those surroundings,” he says.
Focusing on Hosur’s water woes, they organised awareness programmes in educational institutions and government offices. Whatever the harvesting method is—borewell recharge, reviving abandoned borewells or building water tanks—the three supported the people in their struggles to install the RWH system. They even talked about RWH filters and helped people choose the right one. Lakshmanan claims that if borewells are recharged with rainwater, fluorosis content in the groundwater will be reduced. He also asked the State government to store rainwater in abandoned borewells.
S Ganesan (56), a Tamil teacher in a private school from Muneeswarar Nagar in Hosur, said, “Inspired by the rainwater harvesting system in my school, I installed an RWH filter at home, and we are no longer spending so much on the water in summer compared to Rs 900 per month earlier. Also, the quality of borewell water is now better and is used for drinking purposes.”
In 2019, influenced by the actions of Lakshmanan, S Sathish Kumar (41) from Elasagiri also started educating people about rainwater harvesting and implemented the RWH system in about 85 houses.
In 2015, the then Hosur sub-collector Dr K Senthil Raj gave Lakshmanan the monicker ‘Lakeman’. A few years back, Lakshmanan had shot a video detailing the RWH systems and their installation process, and posted it on social media along with his contact number. Now, the team is busy answering hundreds of calls seeking guidance in rainwater harvesting.