Virudhunagar district is saving rainwater in new ponds

Works on some 400 ponds have been completed; recent rain has filled up many of the newly created waterbodies

The Virudhunagar district administration has embarked upon an ambitious project of creating 1,642 ponds. Some 400 ponds have been already created with manual labour by local people under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the district.

As Virudhunagar district is a rain-shadow region, water is scarce in many rural pockets here. With the aim of ‘Catch the Rain’, the district administration launched the new pond scheme to conserve rainwater.

“We chose suitable government poramboke lands where rainwater naturally flows and gets accumulated. In some areas, the lands close to channels have been selected to dig up ponds so that the excess water from the channels could be diverted for filling them up,” Virudhunagar Collector V.P. Jeyaseelan told The Hindu.

Local people have been engaged in the development of ponds.

“No machinery is being used for soil excavation. Men and women use crowbars and spade to dig the soil. Though the sites have been selected without rocky terrains, the workers are asked to leave big boulders found there and create the water catching structure around them,” he added.

These ponds would not only conserve rainwater, but also help as percolation ponds to increase the groundwater table. The sites for the ponds near agricultural lands would benefit farmers.

The size of each pond is decided by the topography of the land. Normally, it measures from 40 metres by 40 metres up to 80 metres to 80 metres.

The depth had been fixed between 1.5 metres to 2 metres as manual digging beyond 2 metres would be difficult, said R. Dandapani, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency.

The excavated soil is used to raise bunds around the ponds. “The bunds for a height of up to 2 metres would help increase the water-holding capacity,” he added.

The district administration had already given administrative sanction for some 1,200 ponds. The recent rain had helped the ponds have good storage, rendering the work beneficial for the local community, the Collector said.

The sites have been chosen away from human habitations and industrial units.

The Collector said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, during his recent visit to Virudhunagar, had announced special funds of ₹150 crore for the district for improving the waterbodies.

The district administration had taken up renovation and desilting of some 150 old ponds with the assistance of an NGO, Pradhan, the Collector added.

Published - November 21, 2024 10:28 pm IST