Even as the rains gods have been kind enough to shower ample rain during the first monsoon of the year between July and September, lack of wit and swift action from administration officials could well prove costly in the coming monsoon as most of the check dams are damaged resulting in waste of water.
The rains, despite flooding all the lakes in Coimbatore had also given enough water to be stored in the check dams, however, since they were damaged, the structures could not hold enough water and they were further damaged during the rain.
According to R. Manikandan, an activist from Coimbatore to took the issue to social media, there are two lakes in Kurumbapalayam near Madukkarai and an additional lake a little before the village spread over a total capacity of five acres.
Water from Arivoli Nagar, B.K. Pudhur, Idayarpalayam, Machampalayam, Sundharapuram, Mile Kall reach Senkulam near Kuniyamuthur and excess water reaches the lakes after coming through a few check dams constructed on the way some years ago by the Public Works Department.
The age old constructions however, could not stand the test of time and have slowly kept deteriorating and have lost the ability to hold water during small flash floods. If maintained well, the dams could prove to be good storage areas and also feed agriculture in the surrounding.
However, in order to repair and maintain these check dams in their pristine form, it would require a minimum of Rs. 25 lakh per check dam. Ironically, according to sources such huge funds are not easy accumulate for the Public Works Department and the department also has lack of labourer issues to deal with.
Hence, the future looks bleak for the check dams and rain water storage that could be a good source for thousands.
Meanwhile, sources close to the area have claimed that the dams broke recently after a desilting work increased the capacity of the construction upto three times. Once the silt and bushes were cleared, the dams held more water than normal hence resulted in the breakage of one of the gates.
When contacted, a senior official from PWD said that he would look into the issue.