WRD contemplating turn system to calibrate pipeline pressure under Athikadavu-Avinashi groundwater recharge scheme

Water Resources Department is grappling with the challenge of ensuring water flow till the tail-end tanks under the Athikadavu-Avinashi groundwater recharge scheme.

| Photo Credit: SIVA SARAVANAN S

The Water Resources Department is exploring the possibility of implementing turn system to ensure reach of water to tail-end tanks linked to the Athikadavu-Avinashi groundwater recharge scheme, in the wake of farmers complaining about the dry condition of about 100 tanks caused by obstruction of flow.Senior officials are understood to have explained to the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, K.G. Arunraj ( designated in-charge Minister for Tiruppur district), recently that turn system could sustain the pressure till the pipelines linking tanks in the tail-end under the project.The grouse of farmers in the tail-end has been that water pilferage takes place en route. The tanks in Muttiyankinaru village in Ettyveerampalayam Panchayat could not derive the utility of the pipeline project last year, farmers had complained.According to the WRD officials, repair works are undertaken on a continuous basis whenever breakages are reported .The refrain of the officials is that the pipeline breakages do occur due to road expansion works undertaken along the pipeline alignment.With the primary objective to divert 1.5 tmcft of surplus water from the Bhavani river during monsoons into 1,045 ponds, lakes and tanks for meeting irrigational and drinking water needs, the scheme benefits 24,000 acres of farmland across Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode districts.According to the officials, the Detailed Project Report envisaged linking less than 700 water bodies, but its reach had to be expanded with inclusion of more water bodies at the implementation stage.As per the design, 92 percent water reaches 350 ponds, and the rest has to be pumped to the hundreds of other water bodies.The officials had, in their detailed explanation to the Minister, described how the scheme had paved way for recharge of ground water, paving way for revival of agriculture in arid lands in Avinashi, Perundurai, Nambiyur, Kunnathur and Chennimalai blocks.The Water Resources Department is in the process of explaining to farmers about the water pressure dynamics under the scheme. Published - July 03, 2026 10:03 pm IST