Summary

Villianur is located to the west of Pondicherry on the Pondicherry - Villupuram main road at a distance of 9.5 Km from Pondicherry. Villianur is the headquarters of Villianur Commune Panchayat.
The area is semi urban and is a part of Pondicherry which ma

Background

Water situation in Villianur
HPPI is running one project supported by NABARD on building Ecosan toilet and providing safe drinking water through rope pumps.
The water resource of the Union Territory continues to be undervalued and over used without regard to current costs and future requirements. There is also increasing water pollution due to urbanisation and industrialisation of the Union Territory. The Pondicherry region is supposed to have plenty of water resources because of good rainfall. The annual rainfall of about 1250 mm in about 50 rainy days is received from both the southwest and northeast monsoons.
The region has substantial quantities of groundwater of fairly good quality. However, the over-extraction of ground water, neglect of tanks,
Ground Water
Pondicherry is endowed with substantial groundwater resources. The utilisable ground water resources (at 85per cent of the gross recharge potential) are assessed at 151 MCM.
Since alluvial aquifers cover about 90 per cent of the Pondicherry region, water level in the wells is fairly shallow ranging between 12 to 14 metres below ground level. In the tank command areas alone there are 70-80 shallow wells and about 1000 tube wells.
Overall, there are some 8000 tube wells in the Pondicherry region which extract water for Agriculture, industry, and domestic purposes.
Total Annual Water Availability
Thus, the total annual availability of water for all uses in the Pondicherry region is 49 MCM (surface water) + 151 MCM (ground water) = 200 MCM per year. Annual per capita availability is roughly 200 cubic metres per person which indicates that the Pondicherry region is an area of water scarcity. It is widely accepted that regions of the world with per capita water availability of less than 1000 cubic metres annually are facing water scarcity. Despite the fact that Pondicherry is believed to have plenty of water resources, it can be categorized to be a region facing water scarcity in relation to demand.
Domestic Use
The total annual domestic requirements for the urban and rural population of the
Pondicherry region in 2020 can be estimated as follows:
Urban Requirement 0.80 million @ 100 litres per day = 80.0 million litres per day (mld)
Rural Requirement 0.27 million @ 40 litres per day = 10.8 million litres per day (mld)
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Total drinking water requirement = 90.8 MLD
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This amount is equivalent to 33 million cubic metres per year or 33 MCM
Total Requirement
Thus the total annual water requirement in 2020 is estimated to be:
Agricultural Use: 150 MCM
Industrial Use: 20 MCM
Domestic Use: 33 MCM
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Total Requirement 203 MCM
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Other estimates place the requirement much higher at 248 MCM. The total availability of 200 MCM is likely to be fully utilised by 2020, and some of the water currently used in agriculture will have to be diverted for domestic and industrial use.
Furthermore, some of the coastal aquifers will have to be artificially recharged to prevent the wall of seawater from moving further in. There will also be a loss of availability of water, particularly for drinking due to the salinity in the ground water in the coastal areas.
The Pondicherry region is therefore likely to face serious water shortages in the next two decades.
Thus, the challenge for the next twenty years is to manage the limited water resources more prudently to ensure that sufficient water is available for all the economic sectors.
Pollution and seawater intrusion further reduces the availability of fresh water for various uses.
Water Management Problems in Pondicherry
a) Ground Water Depletion
The excessive extraction for all uses has caused a drop in the water table at a number of locations. The declining trend over 10 years is of the order of 15 to 30 metres in the west and about 7 metres in the eastern part of Pondicherry. Urban sprawl has also contributed to lower recharge through reduction of vegetation cover and wetlands. In the agricultural areas, open wells are now replaced by tube wells with submersible pump sets. Extraction has gone to 35-50 metres and up to 100 metres in some places.
b) Seawater Intrusion
In a coastal region like Pondicherry, there is the added danger of the ingress of seawater.
In 10 to 15 villages, where groundwater has become saline, the villagers are supplied
Water through tankers from commune headquarters. The shallow aquifers along the coast show signs of salinity. Salt water has intruded up to a distance of 5 to 7 km from the coast. Any further extraction of groundwater has to be done only beyond this distance.
c) Industrial Pollution
Surface water and ground water have been affected by industrial pollution.
d) Sewage Pollution
The amount of sewage generated in Pondicherry is so much that an irrigation canal is acting as a main sewer. 30 per cent of the municipal area does not have a proper drainage system. Most of the sewage reaches the sea without treatment and the urban waterways, tanks and ponds have become severely polluted.
e) Water Pricing
Water charge of Rs. 0.50 per cubic metre is levied for domestic connections and Rs. 1.50 per cubic metre for commercial and institutional purposes; these rates are far too low since the cost of supplying water is Rs. 5 per cubic metre. Farmers extracting groundwater do not have to pay for power. This is undesirable both from the view point of energy policy and water policy

Location

Attachments

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