My Research History
In 2003, Tamil Nadu experienced severe drought conditions due to the failure of both southwest and northeast monsoons for two consecutive years. This led to widespread distress, particularly impacting agriculture and drinking water availability. The state government declared 28 out of 29 districts drought-hit, with only Chennai being spared.
https://m.rediff.com/news/2003/jan/23tn.htm
https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30217054.ece
After completing my M.Sc Microbiology in 2004, the interest to know the basics of Groundwater increased more in me as my M.Sc project was related to Drinking water and its associated Medical Microbiology.
The demand for Groundwater is too high throughout the world and India is one of the Major consumer of Groundwater. Here one part of the people is getting affected with severe drought as Tamil Nadu faced in 2003 and the other part of the people is being affected by severe Flood. There is Surplus amount of water in the sea / ocean which is not suitable for drinking or for any other domestic or commercial purpose without any treatment.
TN Government raised their voice for Desalination and I started thinking in finding the Natural route of Groundwater to reach every individual at their home in its natural way of origin in 2004.
My Observations & Lessons from the surrounding Nature:
The continuous pumping of water from Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited. (NLC) Mines for Decades and Decades of almost half a century and still the process continues with high pressure pumps and Groundwater is nonstop..
“For safe mining operation, ground water is pumped out continuously round the clock through bore wells located at predetermined points”. M. Velan, Environmental Sustainability and Cleaner Perspectives - A Challenging Experience from Lignite Mining Industry in India, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume - 2, Issue - 4, April 2013.
The Literature information's, water flow and the observations noted from my surrounding and the Continuous pumping of Groundwater by the Mines leads to a serious thinking.
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This is the Ignition point of my Research.
Basic level Discussion with Tamil Nadu Government Officials in 2004
During that time our Tamil Nadu (TN) Government was looking for the Sea Water Desalination projects and I had identified the better Nature based Solution, I wrote to the Indian government for necessary help to bring out my findings for the welfare of our people.
The TN Government organised a discussion with Mr. K. Ismath Batcha on Oct 21, 2004 at TWAD Board Vellore.
My first ppt. which had a small portion of my current research was copied in the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD Board) Office, Vellore by one of the officials on one side. On the other side, I was compared with Mr. Ramar Pillai and his Herbal petrol's Boom and Failure during that time period..
I just raised two questions from the basics of Hydrology. For that one of the TWAD board Staff started to explain the text which is there in the literature and stopped near the calculation part mentioning that I can’t understand the Engineering calculations and asked me to leave the topic.
Since I’m very clear that, they will highlight only on those points which they had studied in the books and papers till that time period will be the answer, I raised the question to confirm from my side and smiled on my own and concluded to divert my path to reach the goal.
By hearing all these, I dropped my idea of explaining my findings to the gathering, maintained silence, thanked them and returned home.
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Technical Application level Discussion with Tamil Nadu Government Officials in 2024
Permanant Solution for Flood and Drought Conditions were discussed with Mr. S. Breshnev Prabu, M.E. AE, WRD, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiruporur, Chengalpattu on 11/09/2024, Time: 11:45 hrs. till 13:40 hrs under the title: Nature Based Permanent Solution For Flood And Drought Management by Making Groundwater Visible to All.
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Participants in the discussion:
1. Myself – Robert William Raj. A M.Sc Microbiology., M.Tech Biotechnology., (Independent Groundwater Researcher) & Senior Manager, Biotech Pilot Plant, Orchid Pharma Limited, Alathur, Chennai.
2. Mr. S. Breshnev Prabu, M.E. AE, WRD, Thiruporur.
3. Mr. K. Mahendra kumar, Asst. Executive Engineer, Chengalpattu.
4. Mr.E. Ambalavanan, Asst. Engineer, Chengalpattu.
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Three Presentations were discussed for almost 2 hours:
1. New Basic Science in Hydrology along with the 2nd Invisible Water Cycle.
2. Proposal and Discussion points shared already to Mr. S. Breshnev Prabhu on 06/09/2024 at 02:08 AM.
3. Action Plan for execution.
Conclusion statement of the Meeting:
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This Study Aims and Targets on Groundwater replacement through restructuring the water bodies which involves more land space, Money and Man power.
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Most of the Government departments should get involved to make this possible.
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​Hence this proposal should be reviewed by strong technical team working on both Surface water and Groundwater to proceed further.