Result of failure of monsoons in 2012

Groundwater level in the district has gone down – drastically in a few places - thanks to the failure of monsoons in 2012. Recent reports with the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board suggests that the average drop in water level is five metres in the district. The Board monitors water supply twice a year – before and after monsoon in May and January – using the 38 observation wells it has dug across the district, covering all the 12 panchayat unions.

Singanallur MLA allocates the total amount

Without much of a fanfare, the Coimbatore Corporation with the support of Singanallur MLA R. Chinnasamy, has gone about installing solar street lights. According to Deputy Commissioner, Coimbatore Corporation, S. Sivarasu, the civic body has thus far installed 220 solar street lights and is in the process of installing 50 more. Each of the lights is powered by 27 watt bulbs.

As a first step, all establishments under the civic body to set up solar panels on rooftops

The rooftops of all establishments in Coimbatore Corporation limits will soon turn energy generation stations with the civic body planning to install solar panels. The civic body in a recent resolution said that based on a Government Order from the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, the civic body proposed to install solar panels on the terrace of all its establishments.

Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Limited has begun preliminary works for plant

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s proposal to encourage municipalities to go in for waste-to-energy projects has come as a shot in the arm for the Coimbatore Corporation. In his Budget speech on Thursday, the Minister said: “India tosses out several thousand tonnes of garbage each day. We will evolve a scheme to encourage cities and municipalities to take up waste-to-energy projects in PPP mode, which would be neutral to different technologies. I propose to support municipalities that will implement waste-to-energy projects through different instruments such as viability gap funding, repayable grant and low cost capital.”

1,139 CFLs to be installed in 292 habitations this year

Rural habitations in the district will not get just lights but energy-efficient ones under the Tamil Nadu Village Habitations Improvement (THAI) Scheme. The district administration has decided to go in for CFLs (compact florescent lamps) to standardise procurement and also bring down the village panchayats’ expenditure on power, says N. Venaktesh, Additional Collector, District Rural Development Agency.

To link Siruvani distribution network with Pilloor network

To overcome any difficulty it may have on the water supply front in Summer 2013, the Coimbatore Corporation has initiated a few measures. Disclosing the details, Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy said that the civic body planned to link the Siruvani distribution network with the Pilloor distribution network at a few points in the city.

If things go as planned, the Coimbatore Corporation may ask households in the city to compulsorily go in for solar water heaters.

The civic body was asked to do so at a meeting the Union Government's Ministry of Urban Development conducted in association with the State Government in Chennai recently. According to sources, the Corporation, like other urban local bodies (Municipal Corporations and Municipalities) had been asked to make it mandatory for residents in its jurisdictions to install solar water heaters. But this comes with a caveat – that this is applicable only for those households with over 1,500 sq.ft.

After not-so-successful attempts at source segregation of waste initiatives in the city, the Coimbatore Corporation is gearing up for introducing a few measures aimed at restarting the process. And the civic body has every reason to do so because at stake is Rs. 96 crore – the money it has invested to put in place a solid waste management system.

Sources in the Corporation say that under the Shunya – Zero Waste Management project, the civic body with help from ICLEI, an NGO, and others, is planning to conduct a day-long workshop on source segregation of waste for stake-holders and civil society organisations and follow it up with introducing the process in a few wards on a trial basis.

Monorail will occupy less space, can be completed comparatively early using pre-fabricated structures: RAAC

At a meeting recently, the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) asked the Coimbatore Corporation to take up with the State Government the need for a monorail for the city. A presentation made on the occasion said that a city such as Coimbatore, with over a million population, could go in for the mass transport system project, more so when cities with far fewer population and lesser area had taken many steps forward.

It was that found Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan were better prepared and more aware to implement project

Coimbatore is likely to be a part of an international effort to build sustainable, low carbon cities, if things go as planned by ICLEI, an NGO, and the British High Commission. The project aims at encouraging local governments to develop State-level guidelines and leverage international and national funds for such projects.