PUDUCHERRY: As part of interlinking of rivers, the Puducherry government has represented to the Centre to link Puducherry rivers Sankarabarani, Then Penniyar and Malattar with the channels that would link the Cauvery with the Godavari and Krishna, and provide the Union territory with 7.5 tmc water from the shared resources, said Puducherry PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan.
As the channels linking the rivers pass very close to the Union territory, the Puducherry rivers could easily be linked and the water provided will fill the water bodies, he said while inaugurating the third water festival organized by the Alliance for Good Governance in association with the government of Puducherry, French Consulate, French Institute of Pondicherry and Alliance Francaise on Wednesday.
At the same time, the Puducherry government has planned to execute a Rs 175 crore plan to conserve the water resources and reduce dependence on ground water while ensuring that there is no dearth of water in Puducherry, Lakshminarayanan said. A proposal in this regard has been sent to the Ministry of Jal Shakti for approval and finance to execute the plan that primarily focuses on strengthening the bunds of rivers, tanks, lakes and irrigation channels to store more water and construction of bed dams across rivers to prevent the water from running into the sea from rivers, he said.
The government has been facing a lot of difficulties in supplying water to houses for meeting the drinking water requirements, said Lakshminarayanan. With 60 percent of the population living in urban areas, the demand for water here has increased, requiring at least 90 MLD. The situation has become alarming as the only source is ground water. Around 100 deep groundwater borewells out of 140 have become defunct with very high levels of TDS (total dissolved salts).
On the advice of central and state ground water authorities, these borewells have been closed, and hence the government has identified new areas in rural areas to sink borewells and supply water in urban areas. Under a comprehensive drinking water supply scheme at an outlay of Rs 530 crores provided by the French Development Agency (AFD) of the French government as a soft loan with an interest of just 1.25 percent, new rechargeable borewells will be dug in rural areas and water will be drawn and supplied by laying pipelines, he said.
The government is working on a desalination plant, so that Puducherry does not remain dependent on only ground water. The views and opinions of all stakeholders, experts and line departments will be taken before going ahead, he said.
Under Amrut II scheme of central government, a proposal has been sent to the Centre for ensuring water supply 24x7 in Puducherry through a special scheme, in a similar way to Puri.
The utilisation of sewage water after treatment in the four STPs is being used in parks and now it is proposed to be sold to industries. The Tourism Department has also reconstructed a few temple ponds in Puducherry and Karaikal, which will also help in storage.
Regretting that potable water supplied to homes is being misutilised for other purposes, Lakshminarayanan expressed the need for creating awareness.
He launched “neer koodam” (water pots) yatra for two municipalities and five commune panchayats in Puducherry, where activities will be organised with water from the pots. Besides, he also launched a website www.allforwaterforall.org on the occasion. The festival will conclude on March 22 on World Water Day.
Lise Talbot Barré, Consul General of France in Puducherry and Chennai, Dr Sathish Nallam, President of Alliance Francaise, Puducherry, Alliance for Good Governance members Probir Banerjee and T P Raghunath were among those who spoke on the occasion.