more-in An experimental initiative launched on Friday to prevent loss of water due to evaporation in Vaigai dam by floating thermocol sheets on the water surface turned out to be a damp squib, if the initial observations were anything to go by. The initiative, being executed by the Public Works Department at a cost of ? 10 lakh, was inaugurated by Minister for Cooperation ‘Sellur’ K. Raju in a bid to save the scarce quantity water available in Vaigai dam, which may be sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of Madurai district only for about five weeks. However, barely 15 minutes after PWD workers set out in a coracle and dumped tens of thermocol sheets on the water, nearly 50 metres away from the bank, all the sheets were washed ashore due to heavy winds. The sheets, which were not more than two centimetres in thickness, got broken as well. Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, Madurai Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said that 1.2 mcft of water was getting lost daily from Vaigai dam due to evaporation. Pointing out that the water available in the dam as on Friday was only 162 mcft, of which 6 mcft of water was being drawn daily to meet drinking water needs in Madurai, Mr. Rao said that 1.2 mcft loss due to evaporation daily was proportionately huge. M. Muthupandian, Executive Engineer, PWD (Periyar Vaigai Division), said that the plan was to float thermocol sheets on an experimental basis in 200 square metres of water surface, which is just 0.16 % of around 12 hectares of waterspread area in the dam at present. “The idea was to study the reduction in evaporation losses, if any, and expand the plan, if it proved successful,” he said. On the potential environmental issues the initiative could cause like the settling down of the broken pieces of thermocol in water, or fish and birds feeding on thermocol mistakenly, Collector Rao said that all the possible impact would be assessed. “There is a pressing need to contain the evaporation loss. Unless and until we try out an idea, we will not know the exact impact. If thermocol proves unsuccessful, we can always remove the sheets from water,” he said, adding that PWD was also considering use of plastic materials in lieu of thermocol. Theni Collector N. Venkatachalam and Madurai Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Nanduri were present.

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