It looked like a festival – children running around helping to move silt to the bunds, college students excitedly jumping out of buses eager to work, Siruthuli umbrellas adding colour to the landscape , Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), police personnel led by the Police Commissioner, the Rapid Action Force team working together in unison, as if performing a mass drill, NCC cadets taking up strategic positions, old and young, saint and soldier and many many more. The entire team from a Tamil daily came in hordes to save water for their city. “Instead of being only observers and reporters who write about events, we unanimously decided to pitch in with volunteer work,” says one of them.

The Coimbatore Corporation, District Administration, Siruthuli, and Vijayalakshmi Charitable Trust joined hands for the desilting initiative at the Big Tank or Periakulam. It belongs to the Noyyal River system, which has 20 anicuts and 24 tanks in Coimbatore District. Periakulam receives surplus water from the Selva Chinthamani tank located upstream. It has a tank bed area of 320 acres and a storage capacity of 70 mcft. This tank used to be brimming with water, but over a period of time heavy siltation, dumping of garbage and unchecked growth of Prosopis Juliflora reduced the water holding capacity by more than one third.

The Vijayalakshmi Charitable Trust deployed 6 Poclains, 11 tipper lorries and 3 bulldozers to desilt the tank, to create 3 islands for planting saplings, and to strengthen the bund. Hundreds of labourers spent two months on the job. Heart swells up in joy to see a clean lake bed and a smooth 5.5 km-long and 30-ft-wide earthen walking track around the newly desilted lake. The rains lashed the city soon after this effort, and the lake started brimming with water all over again. Birds including migratory birds from Siberia started coming back – a sight to behold!

The summer of 2003 forecasted a severe drought with just 15 days of water left in the Siruvani reservoir. Panic and despair was visible on people’s faces. Something had to be done and done immediately – there was no time to pause and think and deliberate. Coimbatore region has been abundantly blessed by the long-term vision of the Chera kings, who during their reign, had curated many wetlands along the Noyyal River basin. One such wetland is the Krishnampathy Lake, which is situated to the west of Coimbatore in Seeranaickenpalayam. It lies in the middle of a four lake cluster – Muthannankulam, Selvampathy, Krishnampathy and Narasampathy. The core area of the Krishnampathy lake is surrounded on its various sides by mixed habitats – paddyfields, farmlands, bamboo woods, Sugarcane Breeding Institute and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s experiment farms. This registered ayacut is 568.79 acres with a water-spread area of 178 acres. Presently, the total capacity is 86 acres and water revived area is 75 acres. The catchment area is 16 sq.km .

With no time to ponder, a group of eco conscious Corporates who had some previous experience in rejuvenating rural water bodies plunged into action – Krishnampathy lake, which was in a heavily silted up state with mounds of garbage also dumped into it, was taken up as a pilot project. When the neighbouring farmers heard about the plan, they discouraged the efforts of Siruthuli saying that it was a sheer waste of time and money. Confidence-infusing words from the Waterman of India,Dr Rajendra Singh, who was invited to assess the action plan, gave them courage to go ahead with the plan in spite of the discouraging advice from the locals. His logical counsel was that the rain falling on the Western Ghats, which surrounded the Coimbatore region, has to necessarily come down. And when it does, Coimbatore will be ready with its vessels – the desilted water bodies. Siruthuli never went back on its decision to revive water bodies and bring them back to life. Approximately 17 ft deep accumulated silt and debris was removed and a bund created all around besides cleaning the feeder channels which fed the lake.

A bright ray of hope for the long term plans of SIRUTHULI came when, with just 2 days of an unexpected downpour, the entire water body filled up, much to the delight of not only Siruthulians but to the ecstatic delight of all Coimbatoreans. Water which had become a rare sight to see was there presenting itself like an ocean. People came in large numbers to celebrate by lighting lamps all along the bund. There has been no looking back since then and SIRUTHULI has been making sure and steady strides in reviving and rejuvenating more than 30 water bodies. Right from 2003, when Coimbatore was declared as a drought-prone zone to the current state where the city is fairly comfortable in meeting its water needs, Siruthuli has played a significant role in imparting the collective ownership sentiment among the citizens to preserve and protect the natural resources of the region. While it is delightful to evocate the past, we at Siruthuli feel motivated and inspired to march forward to conserve Nature.

Come, join us! – Nature is the collective responsibility of all and sundry – irrespective of caste, creed and religion!

Forests act as a sink for carbon and protecting them ensures better tackling of climatic changes . We are here to tell you about how the deep jungle became the home to many animals and evolved as a story for Sustainable Forestry. Located at the foothills of the Western ghats and nestled in its hug, Coimbatore has, of late, been featuring in the news for man-animal conflict. Animals especially elephants intrude into the adjoining villages near the Western Ghats in search of food and water. Whenever wild elephants strays into human habitats, the normal course of action is to guide them way back to where they belong.But the reality is that they tend to harm the humans or destroy the crops in the farm lands nearby. The most effective way to regulate this is by providing water holes for the animals inside the forest.

Siruthuli joined hands with the Forest Department to identify a few check dams that that had become dysfunctional due to heavy flow of water during the monsoon. Moreover they were fully silted up making the water holes futile.The water spread area was fully covered with overgrown shrubs making it difficult for the animals to access the water hole. Further damaged surplus weir structures led to a situation where no water could be stored. Bosch came forward with financial support as a part of their CSR activity towards their ‘ Sustainable forest enhancement programme ‘. Six locations were prioritized as part of Phase 1 of the initiative. Reconstructing the damaged check dams and desilting the water impounding area gave them a fresh look. The monsoon that followed brought a bountiful inflow and filled the water holes to the brim. It holds ample water for the wild animals and also supports the growth of flora and fauna of the region.

 They specifically requested for rejuvenating the Nandangarai stream which was nowhere visible to the SIRUTHULI team.  The mantra taught by Dr. Rajendra Singh was –  Where the water runs, make  it walk! (by building check dams and arresting the speed) Where it walks, make it  stand ( in water bodies) Where it stands, make it sit in the lap of Mother Earth ( through percolation) Nandangarai is one of the major streams of River Noyyal. “Seeing is believing” but team Siruthuli did not see any water in the vicinity when the farmers put forth their plea for a check dam. But trusting the farmer’s native knowledge, we decided to plunge headlong into the stream. With the support of District Collector Shri .V.Palani kumar and the Project Director of District Rural Development Authority(DRDA), we drew up a plan for the construction of a check dam under the Self Sufficiency Scheme (SSS). With a deep sense of belonging and gratitude for Mother Noyyal, Siruthuli was truly excited, although apprehensive, about venturing into constructing a check dam, with no prior experience. It was really encouraging to see many natural springs hidden under the shrub jungles which were yielding water. A fair share of the budget went into dewatering the entire area.

The construction of the check dam over the stream was completed in 2008 just before the commencement of the North East monsoon. With the onset of the monsoon, the farmers joyfully rejoiced when their dried borewells and open wells stood gleaming with water, thanks to the perennially overflowing Nandangarai check dam. Besides recharging the wells and serving as a water hole to the wild animals in the adjoining reserve forests, more than 650 hectares of farm lands have benefitted from the check dam. The check dam site also has the unique distinction of celebrating the 80th birthday of our guide and mentor Dr.APJ. Abdul Kalam, who planted a Jamun tree at the site to commemorate the occasion. Today the tree stands tall as a testimony to the efforts that Siruthuli has been making in the field of eco conservation and Dr Kalam’s blessings to continue our eco mission.

After 13 years, to our consternation, the storage capacity of the check dam seemed to have shrunk. Upon a detailed study, we found that more than half of the water impounding area had been filled with silt brought in by the stream from the hills along with the rain water. The local farmers also observed that the water levels in their wells had dipped. An appeal to the District Administration seeking permission for desilting the water body was promptly sanctioned. Thanks to the sponsors – HDB Financial Services and Lucid Imaging – the task of desilting the check dam was taken up. Working relentlessly night and day, the task could be completed in record time. This time around we were wise enough to construct gabion structures and a  stone check dam – Kallanai – on the streams to act as silt traps. These will help to remove the silt periodically. The project also significantly increased the water spread area. The total capacity of the check dam before desilting was 4906 cu.m and after desilting it is 7342 cu.m.

One of them had drilled boreholes in 17 locations on his 2.5 acre land holding. Even at 1000 feet there was not a single drop of water available. This was the situation in the case of each and every farm land in the neighborhood. When team Siruthuli stepped in to do an initial survey to do a feasibility study, there was a surprise awaiting them. PWD had earlier constructed 8 check dams spanning a distance of 800 m in a cascading fashion on the sloping terrain. The 8th check dam had been completely washed away. The rest of the 7 check dams were in a highly damaged condition caused obviously by the speed of the water flow during the monsoons. The run off rain water from the southern part of horseshoe shaped range of Western ghats in the background apparently flows into this pond.

With mountains in the background, there must have been a lot of water running down the terrain after coursing through the check dams. A question we asked ourselves was – why not create a pond next to each check dam so that the rushing water can be made to stand and eventually sit in the lap of Mother Earth. This would help recharge the dried borewells in the adjoining farm lands. Siruthuli came up with various steps to rejuvenate the place . First and foremost was to repair and maintain the 7 check dams. Next was to increase the space between the check dams by deepening or desilting thereby increasing the water impounding area of each one. 6 percolation ponds were created using 7 check dams in a cascading manner by using each check dam as a surplus weir for each percolation pond.

The whole team were engrossed in executing each and every step and found that there were no farm bunds and trees to prevent soil erosion and to enhance the water percolation into the agricultural land. Gabion structures and gully plugs were constructed at strategic locations of the supply channel to slow down the speed of gushing rain water during the monsoons. Approach roads were made in the form of bunds using the desilted soil so that farmers could access their farmlands easily. 2000 trees were planted along the bunds to prevent soil erosion. About 130 million litres of rain water can be stored in the 6 percolation ponds. Kumarankuttai is a standing example of an ideal watershed project. The project was made possible by the generous support of Roots Group of Companies, Ms.Craftsman Automation Private Limited, Rotary club of Coimbatore Metropolis, City Union Bank . The farming community of Madhampatti also chipped in to contribute their token share. Bountiful monsoons filled all the cascading ponds which in turn resulted in dried up bore wells yielding water.

There was a total change in the colour of the terrain. What was brown and arid turned green and fertile. It was most heart warming when the farmers thanked us profusely saying that SIRUTHULI had prevented about 250 farming families from giving up agriculture through this unique project.

Water supply has two primary sources, rivers, and groundwater. The rivers are affected due to the massive urbanization, pollution, waste dumping and poor management. Siruthuli has been involved in increasing the water supply by addressing both the principal sources: restoring the water bodies and also through groundwater recharge. Keeping in mind the fact that decentralized water harvesting and groundwater recharging are effective solutions to water scarcity and the ecological crisis perpetuated by the growing problems of groundwater depletion, harvesting rainwater initiatives were taken up by Siruthuli. A geo-hydrological study was carried out in the year 2004, the result of which suggested having a minimum of 2000 nos. of RWH structures across the city.

Moreover, since Coimbatore has hard rock strata , the groundwater table can be improved by directly feeding the aquifers using recharge structures with deep borewells. Accordingly, with the assistance of the Coimbatore Corporation 250 structures were constructed and rejuvenated a few years later with the help of the Rotary Clubs of Coimbatore. 365 structures were completed with financial assistance from the Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi based on the efficacy of the project.  Further, 65 structures were completed through the corporate bodies which came forward to construct structures to harvest the rainwater falling on their premises. Another example where corporates, institutions, individuals, government and several stakeholders joined together to spread awareness to ensure Coimbatore did not run out of water. Studies show that with 100 mm rainfall on 1 hectare of land, 1 million litres of water can be harvested. Siruthuli has been engaged in the construction of both open structures and roadside structures to recharge the groundwater in several locations across the city.

In areas where water logging was prevalent after rainfall, the roadside structures built by Siruthuli not only helped drain the water but also used the run-off water for recharging the aquifers. Over the years, observation wells have been marked by Siruthuli in different zones and studies conducted. The failed borewells and open wells started yielding enough water for the farmers and industrialists and benefitted the community. Due to urbanisation and lack of space, Siruthuli also encourages roof-top rainwater harvesting techniques. These structures help the user become self-sufficient in water supply, providing easy use and implementation techniques to save not only water but also the environment. A recent report published by MoWR, New Delhi regarding a study that was conducted at 1161 locations in TamilNadu for 10 years from 2001 –2011 reveals that the groundwater levels of Coimbatore District have been raised by 13.92 meters, which is a great sign of the success of the project!!