CHENNAI: Eyebrows were raised, when a well known 'well' was not brimming to its capacity despite heavy rain and inflow from Nambiyaru canal and catchment areas in Ayankumal village of Thisaiyankulam town in Tirunelveli district, spurring villagers and district administration to rope in a team from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-M) to figure out the causes behind the mystery.
According to villagers, all the water bodies including tanks and lakes surrounding the Ayankumal village almost filled up with rainwater. Under such circumstances, a river situated near the village brimmed to its capacity, and 50 cusecs of surplus water was continuously discharged into this well for about five days. However, well was not filled up till date and this surprised villagers, who were beyond comprehension as to where water was flowing into.
The villagers were also perplexed and pointed out that this was not new to them. "We were at a loss of words for years guessing where rainwater into the well was going into. However, the groundwater level has increased, and saline water has been converted into freshwater without pollution for a radius of 20 km from this well," they said.
Upon receiving information, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker Appavu and District Collector Vishnu arrived at the spot and inspected the well. They also recommended the state government to send a team from IIT-M. Based on the invitation, a three-member team headed by two Professors-Venkat Ramanan and Srinivasan- arrived on the spot on Thursday and conducted the study on why the well failed to fill up with rainwater despite heavy inflows. The team also enquired from the villagers about the well and its underground channels and also asked for how many years this has been happening.
Moreover, the team members explored whether water from this well was flowing into a nearby well. Suspecting it, the team took a water sample from the nearby well. The team continued its research on Friday as well.
Various NGOs, volunteers, Anna University research students, and private college students have actively been involved in the study. Such an incident has sparked excitement among the people, officials, and researchers.
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