Irulappapuram, Sundapattivilai, Maavilai and Pechipparai Villages, Kanyakumari District

QUENCHING THE THIRST OF THE STUDENTS

Irulappapuram is a suburban area in Nagercoil Town of Kanyakumari District. With a strength of 533, the students of the Govt. High School of Irulappapuram faced lot of difficulties in getting drinking water, as the existing water supply arrangement hardly sufficed the demand.

At this stage, an additional building was sanctioned under Operation Black Board, in this school. The building was constructed through KATTIDA MAYYAM. The district administration has embarked on a major drive to construct Rain Water Harvesting Structures in all the Govt. buildings. As part of the drive, one Rain Water Harvesting Structure was constructed in the additional school building with a capacity of 10,000 litres, which has put an end to the drinking water problem of the school.

The people of Sundapattivilai and Maavilai villages of Rajakkamanagalam Block depend on the Chembakulam channel for their basic requirements. The channel not only fulfills their bathing needs but also helps in recharging the adjoining drinking water wells.

But, of late, due to meager flow of water in the channel, the villagers face lot of difficulty, especially during summer.

Then the villagers came out with the idea of constructing a series of check-dams which will not only ensure availability of water throughout the year, but also recharge the wells along side the channel.

The proposal was readily accepted and the Collector gave sanction under small savings incentive scheme for the construction two check-dams, to begin with, which have been completed and put to use of the community.

Seeing the utility of the check-dams, the other villagers along the channel are now pressing for similar Water Harvesting Structures and the district administration has decided to sanction two more such check-dams.

Pechipparai is a village panchayat with a sizable number of tribal population. Though the tribals are settled in the interior forests of the Western Ghats, which is blessed with lot of rain, they face acute shortage of drinking water reminding one of the situation, “Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink”. This is because the entire rain water runs off the hills as there is no facility to retain the water.

During one of his camps to the tribal habitations, the people of KALAPPARAI Kani settlement represented to the Collector about the difficulty in getting drinking water and requested provision for the same.

 As the tribal hutments are located in rocky and steep gradient terrain, it is very difficult to construct wells. And even if a well is constructed, it is not at all possible to pump the water through motor as there is no electricity in the tribal habitations which are located deep inside the Reserve Forest area. Then a meticulous arrangement was worked out whereby a small check-dam was constructed to retain the water. The check-dam was constructed well above the habitation so as to enable gravity flow of water down to the habitation. The water from the check-dam is brought to a syntex tank constructed in the habitation from where the tribals get water.

The tribals, who used to trek up and down the hills in search of water, under scorching sun, are delighted over the availability of water virtually at their doorsteps.