Virudhunagar district is saving rainwater in new ponds

The Virudhunagar district administration has embarked upon an ambitious project of creating 1,642 ponds. Some 400 ponds have been already created with manual labour by local people under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the district.

The Virudhunagar district administration has embarked upon an ambitious project of creating 1,642 ponds. Some 400 ponds have been already created with manual labour by local people under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the district.

As Virudhunagar district is a rain-shadow region, water is scarce in many rural pockets here. With the aim of ‘Catch the Rain’, the district administration launched the new pond scheme to conserve rainwater.

“We chose suitable government poramboke lands where rainwater naturally flows and gets accumulated. In some areas, the lands close to channels have been selected to dig up ponds so that the excess water from the channels could be diverted for filling them up,” Virudhunagar Collector V.P. Jeyaseelan told The Hindu.

Local people have been engaged in the development of ponds.

“No machinery is being used for soil excavation. Men and women use crowbars and spade to dig the soil. Though the sites have been selected without rocky terrains, the workers are asked to leave big boulders found there and create the water catching structure around them,” he added.

These ponds would not only conserve rainwater, but also help as percolation ponds to increase the groundwater table. The sites for the ponds near agricultural lands would benefit farmers.

The size of each pond is decided by the topography of the land. Normally, it measures from 40 metres by 40 metres up to 80 metres to 80 metres.