Chennai (The Hawk): To determine the places where water flows and to boost the storage capacity of the state's 42,000 lakes, the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department has started a survey.
The state's Water Resources Department (WRD) and local organisations have been instructed by the government to inspect and survey all of the lakes and submit a report as soon as possible.
Notably, the state Water Resources Department maintains 14,318 of the state's 42,000 lakes, and 2,700 of those have reached their capacity.
To satisfy the population's increasing demand for drinking water, a senior official of the state Water Resources Department told IANS that it was crucial to improve the storage capacity of these lakes.
The Water Resources Department is receiving full support from the state department of revenue in order to locate encroachments around lakes and water bodies. To assist the revenue department and to disseminate information about the encroachments, steering committees have been established at the state, district, and divisional levels.
You may remember that numerous farmers' organisations have already petitioned the Tamil Nadu government to properly maintain the state's lakes and waterways so that they are stocked with water.
R. Rajendran, the Tiruchi-based head of a farmers association, said to IANS: "The state has enough lakes and water bodies, and we need carefully preserve these lakes so that we can obtain a steady supply of water. For lakes and other bodies of water to maintain their storage capacity, desilting must be done routinely and at least twice every two years."
Due to the state's significant rainfall during the Southwest Monsoon, practically all water bodies have enough water, and some have already reached their maximum storage levels. The study and evaluation of all 42,000 lakes in the state would result in a surplus of water for the state, but encroachments and poor management have made many of these water bodies unable to store the appropriate amount of water.
(Inputs from Agencies)