its a backtobasics solution for parched lands during the lockdown the murugappa group through group company eid parry and the amm foundation began a csr project on water sustainability called project nanneer the aim was to rejuvenate seven water bodies in sivaganga and pudukkottai two of the most waterdeficient districts in tamil nadu with coimbatorebased ngo siruthuli as implementation partner the group started the project in late 2021 most of the work was done in the summer of 2022a year on project nanneer provides relief to close to 2000 farming families ensuring an incremental 1 billion litres of water in the local water ecosystem up from just 200 million litres its target two billion litres in the next 12 months and 10 billion litres by 2026for the murugappa group this is both good business and good community service the group has a close connect with the farming community thanks to companies such as eid parry and coromandel international farmers are central to where we are as an organisation today says eid parry ceo muthu murugappan eid parry has some acreage under algae production in sivaganga and pudukkottai in summer the acreage reduces because of water scarcity as this region is monsoon fed we were looking for ways to run the farms in perpetuity and also do something for this arid part of the state given that the groups ancestry comes from this region he says with project nanneer increasing water storage farmers can now cultivate their land twice sometimes even three times a yearthe project is repairing existing water bodies and rainwater harvesting structures to increase storage the districts of sivaganga and pudukkottai are home to numerous water bodies called ooranis and kanmais besides temple tanks however many of these oncelarge bodies of water have diminished in size and capacity over time because of the buildup of silt and a lack of maintenance we are strengthening bunds cleaning channels desilting introducing islands removing vegetation creating a biosphere for birds and other animals and working with communities says murugappan at the vadakudippatti and chettiyan kanmais 3000 tree saplings have been planted as bio fencing the 10 islands created from desilted soil are being developed as bird habitatssivaganga and pudukottai have been selected in the first phase after a detailed watershed management study of 5 km radius from oonaiyur village two water bodies in sivaganga vadakudipatti kanmai chettiyan kanmai and five in pudukkottai district kaana kanmai raayar kanmai panangudi tank oonaiyur big tank and oonaiyur drinking pond are being rejuvenated in the next phase the project will be extended to other districts where the group has a footprint already karur erode and cuddalore districts have shown interest and we will expand there in the next 12 months says murugappan there is also talk of other districts such as ranipet hosur and coastal andhra pradesh showing an interest in project nanneercurrently entirely funded by the amm foundation the project will look for partners as it expands its footprint we would like to take