Coimbatore : With major parts of the State heavily hit by water scarcity, the Deputy Chief Executive Engineer of Water Resources of the Public Works Department, S. Sivalingam has issued a dry warning to Coimbatore calling for a social alert, much ahead of the crisis.
Coimbatore : With major parts of the State heavily hit by water scarcity, the Deputy Chief Executive Engineer of Water Resources of the Public Works Department, S. Sivalingam has issued a dry warning to Coimbatore calling for a social alert, much ahead of the crisis.
Leading the 30 participants at the 16th Nature Trail along the bund of the Singanallur lake on Sunday, Mr. Sivalingam began by addressing the gathering that despite being a lazy sunday it was time for Coimbatoreans to wake up for a social alert.
He kick-started his talk by narrating about the incidents which polluted Buffalo River, Niagra. "It was once considered to be a tributary to Niagra. During 1970's, the river became biologically dead because of the excessive mixture of industrial effluents and pollutants."
However, it was not the end of the story as to he continued to say that many NGOs took great efforts for saving the lake and revived it after 30 years of continuous efforts.
He also seeded a particular thought into the minds of the participants by saying its "development and environment” not “development Vs environment”.
"It's the duty of the individual to think about how to strike a balance between development and environment. Everything cannot be done by the government adding that individual contribution was necessary to save the environment", he added.
"Plant a sapling under your feet", he told the participants by adding that it is the best way to extend our support to save the environment.
“There is huge gap between planning and execution, which creates regression in the State,” he noted.
He also claimed that "There are about 200MLD of effluents in Coimbatore but there is not sufficient recycling plants to treat them. Instead of waiting for solutions, the best solution is by transforming ourselves into change agents to save the degrading environment", opined the Deputy Chief Executive Engineer.
Elucidating on the pathetic condition of the water bodies, the Senior officer of PWD claimed that "Human negligence has resulted in slowly transforming urban areas into deserts. Though there are natural reasons for such degradation like erratic monsoon rains that play a spoilsport in depleting our water resources, human resources continue to play havoc with natural resources."
"Water channels play an important role in water conservation. Sadly, most of the water channels are either clogged or encroached. The government should take steps on war footing to evict encroachments and plans of elevated building corridors must be encouraged to conserve water resources,” he opined.
The participants were also enlightened by Yogiraja, an Engineer turned Environmental Activist who threw light on native Indian trees which protects the soil.
He showed examples of native breeds such as the Moringa and Karuvelam which can be planted in dry land and yet grown easily. Notably, 12 Miyawaki patches are maintained at the Singanallur lake, wherein native plants are planted and taken care of by members of Centre for Urban Biodiversity Conservation and Education (CUBE).
Solutions such as source segregation of wastes, converting local dump-yards into parks by taking responsibility and having a sense of ownership, which can be done as an individual were also discussed during the walk.
Nature trail is organised twice a month on 1st and 3rd Sundays at the Singanallur lake by CUBE and Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation.