Replenished ponds to quench cattle’s thirst

Mahbubnagar: The Animal Husbandry Department in coordination with Rural Water Supply and Panchayat Raj departments are planning to rejuvenate and restore defunct ponds in the district, so as to meet the water requirements of cattle, sheep, goats and other domesticated animals during summer in the district. 

“As it is well known, during summers, there will be a lot of water scarcity. Particularly many animals die due to lack of water. To overcome this, this year, the Animal Husbandry Department in coordination with the Irrigation Department is working on rejuvenation of old and defunct ponds in the district. For this, we have decided to take up a survey to find out how many defunct ponds are there and how many needs repairs,” said Dr Durgaiah, Joint Director of Animal Husbandry, Mahbubnagar. 

According to officials, the main objective behind this initiative of rejuvenation of old ponds and repairs of defunct ponds is to provide water to cattle to quench their thirst during the hot summer months of March, April and May. As part of this, the government has directed the district authorities to prepare a detailed proposal to restore water ponds after conducting a comprehensive survey. 

Last year also many ponds were restored. However, they all dried down and turned non-functional as there was no water in them due to no linkage to any kind of water source. Because of this, many dairy farmers are facing problems to provide water to their livestock. 

Now, the district officials want to reconstruct all old and destroyed ponds with much better access to animals like buffalos, cows, bulls and other domesticated animals. “As part of the restoration work, the ponds will have less steep slopes for enabling the cattle to get access to water easily and all these ponds will to get linkage with drinking water sources so that they are filled with water during summer for the animals,” informed the JD. 

According to official estimates, there are around 450 small and medium ponds in the district, of which 230 are functioning, while the remaining are defunct with no water source. If all these ponds are restored, then it will enable 2.5 lakh cows, 1.34 lakh buffaloes and 17.83 lakh sheep to get access to drinking water during the upcoming summer season.