Ponnankurichi drinking water scheme revamped

Radhapuram coastal villages, struggling with saline groundwater, to get sufficient drinking water from Jan. New plan drawn to lay superior quality pipes bypassing Kaalvaai village. Deep borewells being sunk & leakages plugged to improve water supply. Murappanaadu drinking water scheme to ensure 24x7 supply. SCADA system introduced for Thoothukudi. Officials asked to address drinking water issues & submit compliance report.

Eleven coastal village panchayats of Radhapuram Assembly constituency, which receive meagre drinking water now under an erratic drinking water scheme, are expected to get sufficient supply from January.

The problem started when the State government implemented a drinking water project with tsunami relief fund for the benefit of coastal hamlets in Radhapuram segment by drawing water from the Tamirabharani at Ponnankurichi near Srivaikundam. The main pipeline carrying drinking water to the fishermen of the hamlets was allegedly damaged by locals at Kaalvaai village to draw water for themselves. Consequently, the hamlets, which were struggling with saline groundwater, had to content with the small quantity of water supplied under the scheme.

 To make things worse, the poor quality of pipes used in the project led to frequent bursts at several places leading to massive leakages. Hence, a new plan was drawn for laying pipes of superior quality, bypassing Kaalvaai village, to ensure that all the water pumped from Ponnankurichi reached the coastal villages.

 “The special pipes for the project has been laid for a distance of 1 km and we have to cover the remaining 7 km [for bypassing Kaalvaai village]. We are about to receive the pipes before September 30 and, hence, we will complete the project by December so as to make it operational from January,” said Speaker M. Appavu, who represents Radhapuram Assembly constituency, at a review meeting held here on Monday.

The meeting was chaired by Minister for Local Administration K.N. Nehru.

 Tirunelveli Collector K.P. Karthikeyan said deep borewells were being sunk in places where drinking water supply was not up to the mark and leakages were being plugged to improve the quantity of water being supplied to residents.

 Thoothukudi Collector K. Senthil Raj appealed to the Minister and senior officials of TWAD Board to explore the possibiliy of improving drinking water supply to the northern part of Thoothukudi district that comprised coastal hamlets without any credible source of water.