How L&T helped a village in Coimbatore overcome perennial water scarcity
Water is life. In agricultural societies, it assumes even more importance. That is why the villagers of Malumichampatti in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore were alarmed when groundwater levels declined.
Their pumping costs increased, agricultural output decreased, and there wasn’t even enough water for drinking and household use. The local gram panchayat had dug 160 borewells, but 128 of them went completely dry.
To remedy this pressing issue, the panchayat representatives approached L&T – a reliable resource which has been undertaking development activities in government schools and hospitals in Coimbatore for several years now.
L&T Precision Engineering & Systems (PES), under its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, partnered with an NGO – Community Organisation for Oppressed and Depressed Upliftment (COODU, which in Tamil denotes ‘nest’), the panchayat and the local farmers to find a solution.
They devised a plan to recharge the groundwater by capturing run-off rainwater and to sustain the water supply by strengthening the farmer group to spur community action for operating and maintaining the water assets.
Initiated in July 2021, the project involved several activities – such as baseline assessment and documentation of watershed, forming watershed committees, stakeholder meetings, desilting channels and water bodies, renovating and constructing check dams, planting saplings and organising a watershed / farmers’ committee to ensure stakeholder involvement.
The major achievements undertaken include renovation of six check dams, construction of two check dams, desilting 118,924 cu.m, planting 1,500 saplings and forming a Farmers’ Trust to ensure sustainability of the project.
The efforts have borne rich fruit. The check dams and desilted water bodies got rejuvenated, making all the stakeholders – the panchayat, the farmers and the villagers – happy as they now have sufficient water for every need even in the dry season.
The project owes its success to its holistic approach and community participation.
