PUDUCHERRY: After the Jal Shakti Ministry’s first census report on waterbodies found 34 (29 ponds and five lakes) out of 1,171 waterbodies in Puducherry have been encroached upon, Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma directed the revenue department to remove the encroachers. At an official review meeting this month, Verma also asked the local administration and nodal department under Jal Shakti Abhiyan to help rejuvenate the waterbodies to address the union territory's precarious water situation.
Among the encroached waterbodies, 13 have less than 25% area usurped, encroachment of two others ranges between 25% to 75%, and seven have over 75% encroached space, the report stated and noted that only 296 water bodies contribute to groundwater recharge. While 485 are not in use, of which 465 have become defunct due to being dumped with industrial affluents, 210 mostly don't contain water due to various reasons. Thus, rejuvenating these water bodies has become the need of the hour at a time when groundwater has depleted and been rendered saline in most places in urban areas.
Ponds are part of the cascading system of water supply, says Probir Banerjee of Alliance for Good Governance, an NGO which has managed to restore some water bodies in the UT. "If one gets encroached, it affects the others in the chain and those go dry. In some cases, feeder canals are found to have been encroached," he explains. Unless the government acts fast, it will become difficult to save water bodies in Puducherry, which has already lost several water bodies to encroachments by medical colleges, police stations, free house sites, and private houses, he adds.
Of the total water bodies, 95.9% (1,123) are publicly owned, whereas only 4.1% (48) are under private ownership, stated the report. Majority of the water bodies are ponds followed by lakes and tanks. There are 1,168 natural water bodies, of which 89.9% (1,050) are in the local areas and 10.1% (118) in the urban spaces. All three man-made waterbodies are found in urban areas.
According to information gathered for 1,166 water bodies in connection with their storage capacity, 20.3% (237) can be utilised fully, 45.2% (527) can be filled up to three-fourth level, 30.6% (357) by half, 1.5% (17) up to one-fourth, whereas 2.4% (28) has no storage capacity at all.