CHENNAI,INDIA, October 18, 2002: People in Tamil Nadu are renovating temple tanks in their efforts to conserve water, a very serious problem in a region that is currently trying to procure a supply of water from neighboring Karnataka. The aim is to convert, or rather restore, the temple tanks into catchments for rainwater harvesting. The landscape of Tamil Nadu is dotted with temples, and many of those temples traditionally had tanks that were used for various ceremonies. These also served as natural aquifers and helped recharge neighborhood groundwater. But over the years many have gone out of use and overflowing mounds of silt and garbage have replaced the water these tanks once contained. The drive began with the Parthasarathy and Kapaleewswaran temples in Chennai. The roads and highways department is also involved and is studying the feasibility of diverting rainwater from the storm-water drains on the state and national highways and major road networks into the temple tanks.
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