TN CM appeals to people to save rain water

As Tamil Nadu faced one of its worst water crisis this year, Chief Minister K Palaniswamy on Thursday appealed to citizens to save rain water, reminding them of the 'grand' rain water harvesting (RWH) scheme ushered in by the late J Jayalalithaa in 2001.

Palaniswami said the rain water harvesting scheme was introduced by the late CM Jayalalithaa as she placed great importance on the natural resource to meet water requirements.

In a video message, he pointed out that saint-poet Thiruvalluvar had stressed on the importance of water in his 'Thirukkural', a collection of 1,330 couplets dealing with various aspects of life, saying the world cannot function without water.

"The credit for enacting a law to save rainwater goes to Amma (J Jayalalithaa)," he said.

"I request every individual to volunteer to implement this grand scheme of Amma to ensure copius availability of water for the betterment of themselves and help Tamil Nadu remain a prosperous state," the chief minister said in the video.

Tamil Nadu, especially capital Chennai, experienced one of its worst water crises this summer, with a weak north- east monsoon in 2018 failing to fill up the reservoirs feeding the city.

Tankers have been pressed to quench citizens' thirst, even as rains of late have brought some respite, though all eyes lie on the ensuing northeast monsoon (October-December) that brings the bulk of rainfall to the state.

The RWH scheme was launched by Jayalalithaa as chief minister in the year 2001 following a similar dry patch then wherein she made it mandatory for homes and other buildings to set up the necessary infrastructure for rainwater collected on building tops to be let into the soil directly, in order to recharge groundwater.

The aim then was to enhance both the quality and quantity of the groundwater.