Tamil Nadu

Organizer: Department of Earth Sciences

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to visit a couple of partners in Tamil Nadu. These two partners are facing a difficult task—sanitation and hygiene implementation through community participation. One project is in the urban slums of Trichy while the other one is a rural project a few hours outside of Trichy. These communities have open defecation rates of 90%. The problem mostly lies on the women. Women feel embarrassed and ashamed to go out in the open, so as a result they only go in the early mornings or late at night—basically during pitch black. Menstrual Health is a topic that is only now being addressed with organizations developing their own branch of sanitary napkin production, sold cheaply to women in rural areas. In addition to the burden on women, open defecation pollutes water sources, thereby leading to diarrhea, one of the biggest killers of children in the developing world.

Organizer: Confederation of Indian Industry(CII)

This link on the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) website, presents data related to the status of the urban water, sanitation and solid waste management in India. The data includes information on:

• Status of water supply (physical)
• Status of urban water supply (financial)
• Status of urban sewerage/sanitation system
• Status of low cost sanitation
• Status of solid waste management

Data is included from different states in India namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Pondicherry, Sikkim and Tamilnadu respectively.

The discussion paper by Carewater INREM Foundation on possibility of revival of dug wells in hard rock India through recharge is based on a field study across ten districts of the country. The study seeks to understand how localized governance of groundwater in hard rock areas is to be pursued through pricing (water, energy), legal regulation and community institutions. Water supply augmentation and demand management are both to be taken care of, directly through regulation or through indirect instruments such as pricing.

This document by the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu highlights the importance of the Kodaikanal lake as an important tourist destination and warns that this freshwater lake is under the threat of getting polluted and its biodiversity endangered.

The document presents the findings of the study that aimed at assessing the physico-chemical and biological quality of the Kodaikanal lake.

Evidence indicates that unrestricted tourism activities have led to high use of plastic bottles, glass bottles, plastic bags, causing high levels of pollution and silting of the lake. Damaged fibreglass boats left inside the lakes also pose a serious threat to the lake ecosystem.

The paper highlights the case of recent projects that have been planned on the river Cooum in Chennai.