TIRUPATTUR: Just less than two decades ago, the Venkatasamudhuiram Panchayat at Ambur in Tirupattur was a haven of wells. The panchayat had 14 villages, and 14 huge wells. The residents used to draw water from the wells for their everyday uses, including for irrigating their farms and rearing cattle. The wells used to be an integral part of their lives. But when water was made available on the tap, the unused wells soon turned into garbage pits, with trash accumulated there weighing several tonnes.
As the onus fell on the villagers to revive the water sources, Gayathri Naveen Kumar, panchayat president, and her husband Naveen Kumar, former councillor, decided to put in serious efforts and even spend money from their pockets to breathe life back into the wells of the past.“We don’t regret it. We hope to bring the good old habits back again,” says Gayathri. The works started about a month ago and so far, six out of the 14 wells have been cleaned. “Removal of sludges and pumping out slime-filled water are being done as part of the cleaning,” says Kumar.
They have employed skilled labourers to clean the wells, as they don’t want any accident to take place during the cleaning. It is not an easy job. The trash accumulated in one of the wells in Battur village weighed almost 20 tonnes. P M Saravan, who is overseeing the cleaning work, says that as the waste was lying dormant for a long time, it can emit toxic gases and hence they have to be careful while removing the waste. “We are carefully removing the waste and will be able to complete cleaning all the wells within a month.”
Gayathri believes that drawing water from the well can cut down the electricity consumption of the panchayat and will also help the villagers in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.“Every time when the motor is switched on to supply water to households, it adds up to the electricity consumption, but that’s not the case when water is drawn using hands. Even if a small motor is fixed to a well for drawing water, it is not going to cost much.” “Thanks to Chinna Yeri lake in the panchayat, which is half filled due to the monsoon rains and breaching of the Ooral Kuttai check dam last year, the water in the revived wells is just 20 feet below the surface. We can start reusing the well water for household purposes again,” Kumar adds.