The much talked about effort to restore River Noyyal by the city-based non-governmental organisation, Siruthuli, began on a very small but informal note here on Sunday, when water conservationist Rajendra Singh and members of the NGO started desilting a tributary of that river, at Iruttupallam stream near Siruvani. The stream is among the 34 streams that were once feeding River Noyyal to make it a perennial river.
The conservationist was with Siruthuli chairman S.V. Balasubramaniam, managing trustee Vanitha Mohan, trustees and apex members on a visit to the places alongside the river where the NGO had carried out various efforts to conserve water. Their team cleared garbage from the water starved stream and started desilting it symbolically to initiate the restoration.
Later, Mr. Rajendra Singh told The Hindu that the government should take efforts to identify the boundaries of the river, demark and notify it in the map, remove encroachments and desilt it and make room to store water - to ensure that the streams were back to action in feeding River Noyyal with water, after they went dry many years ago.
After visiting Periyakulam Tank, Perur padithurai, Iruttupallam stream, check dam at Nadangarai and Kanchi Manadhi, he said it was sad to see the tributaries of that river encroached upon by agriculture, houses and industries.
“The encroachers also caused more damage to the stream by sucking underground water and by draining sewage into the streams,” the Stockholm Water Prize and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner said.
“Free the Noyyal from encroachments and build series of check dams across the streams to help the river get water throughout the year,” he said and added that the river should then be restored with its natural beauty by planting saplings on its banks.
Ms. Vanitha Mohan said that Iruttupallam stream was among the four streams that the NGO studied last year to kick start restoration of the river.
“We will discuss with the district administration and prepare a detailed project report for restoring the streams, in the first phase,” she said.
She added that the remaining streams – including a few that existed only theoretically – would be restored in a phased manner.
