Karunapuram experience in water conservation a model
The Hindu
Almost every house has a rain water storage facility or pits for storing the rain water
A village on the border with Tamil Nadu, where the largest number of borewells exist in Kerala, is on a makeover with a multi-pronged strategy adopted by the grama panchayat for nearly a decade to meet extreme drought, seeing some positive results.
The residents say that they have freed themselves from the severe drought situation and get normal rainfall now. They can cultivate cardamom, pepper and coffee, the main crops in the high range. The story of Karunapuram is how a panchayat-adopted measures against extreme drought helped in mitigating the impact of a climate change it underwent nearly a decade back. The village faced severe drought from 2011 to 2013 and was one of the main beneficiaries of the Jalanidhi project then. The change in the climate in Karunapuram was attributed to the extended rainshadow area from Chinnar and from the western side of the Western Ghats.
“There was no water shortage last summer. This year we got surplus rainfall in the two monsoons,' 'said Sajimon M.G., who runs a hotel at Karunapuram junction. He said that the village was also free of the heavy damage caused by rains which the State experienced in the past three consecutive years.
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