KARUR: Villagers’ wait to desilt and fill Panjapatti lake with surplus water from Cauvery is more than two decades old now. Spread across 1,217 acres at Panjapatti village in Krishnarayapuram Panchayat union, the Panjapatti Lake has storage capacity of about 1.5 TMC. Starting from the hilly regions of Kadavur panchayat union, the rain water flows through Palaviduthi, Tharagampatti and Mayilampatti villages, filling up around 24 lakes and 124 ponds on the way. The surplus water finally reaches Panjapatti lake. Once the lake reaches its full capacity, the surplus water flows through southern aqueduct and gets mixed with the Cauvery River near Kudamuruti in Trichy.
However, as there is no proper rainfall in the Kadavur regions and all the water bodies on the way not been desilted for years, the Panjapatti lake is not able to receive water.
More than 30,000 acres of farm lands in 25 villages, including Velliyanai, Metupatti, Panjapatti, Tharasampatti, Kadavur, Pothuravuthanpatti, Krishnarayapuram, Sivayam, Pappakapatti, Vayalur were irrigated with Panjapatti lake water. Until 2001, villagers used the water for irrigation and drinking purpose. After that, the lake has gone bone dry due to excessive encroachment of seemai karuvelam trees and deficit rainfall.
V K Thangavel, district president of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, told TNIE, “Panjapatti lake being the third largest lake in the State recharges groundwater level of surrounding areas if it flows to its full capacity. For years, farmers and residents of Panjapatti village have been requesting the district administration to bring water from Mayanur barrage, just 20 km away from the lake, through pipelines or pumping stations.But all our pleas fell on deaf ears. Had the government responded to our requests, we could have saved a lot of water going waste to the sea every year.” Sources said that in the last
15 years, about 520 TMC of Cauvery water drained into the sea, of which more than 100 TMC (~4 lakh cusecs) in the last three years alone flowed through Mayanur barrage. Officials, however, say that the mission to pump water from Mayanur through pipelines is not feasible as the lake is situated at a higher altitude than the barrage (27 metres above ground level).