Selvanayagapuram and Merukukottakudi villges, Ramanathapuram district,
Tamil Nadu When modern water supply methods failed to deliver water to villages in Ramanathapuram district, water from renovated ooranis came to their rescue. Vivekananda Kendra, a NGO working in Ramanathapuram district , convinced villagers in Mudulkulattur block to participate in reviving ooranis and harvest rainwater using rooftops. Ooranis, the only source of water had been neglected and fallen into disuse. Storage capacities were greatly reduced due to siltation and encroachment. Absence of proper inlet structure, poor maintenance of the side embankments and contamination led to the decline of ponds. To augment drinking water supply, Vivekanand Kendra decided to provide ooranis with recharge tubewells. The kendra carried out detailed studies in consultation with the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) selected Selvanayagapuram and Merukukottakudi villges in Mudukulattur panchayat for installing these recharge structures. The sub soil water level and brackish groundwater does not allow any appreciable deepening of the oorani bed, while the high rate of evaporation in summer months necessitates deepening rather than increasing the surface area. The average length and width of the pond was 83m and 70m, while its depth was 1.30m. Two recharge tubewells of 200 mm diameter and 36.37 m depth were constructed inside the pond. Gravel was packed in pits with 1.2m diameter and two metres depth around the tubewells to facilitate rainwater collected in the pond to recharge the sand layer occurring below five metres. In addition, a draw well of 1.80 m diameter and 7.90 m depth was constructed using concrete rings to collect water for drinking. The pond was full by September 1997 and inflow into the tubewells could be perceived by the lowering of the water level in the pond. Pix P-163 Fig 1 MWEB |
source: http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/Rural/Mudukulathur.htm