“Water Bodies Exnora” becomes “Neer Exnora”
Exnora movement, founded by Mr M B Nirmal in 1989, has been a pioneer in nurturing the Environment of our planet for over 25 years. Solid Waste Management and Tree planting were the the first twin iniatives in late 1980's when Exnora worked cosely with Corporation of Madras to improve the civic condition and green cover around slums and middle class house holds alike.

"Neer ExNoRa" is one more Voluntary Organization promoted by ExNoRa International Foundation, with a direct focus on "Water", its "Collection or Harvesting", "Storage", "Drainage" and "Recycling" in order to protect, promote and expand the Water Bodies Infrastructure (Neer Nilai Aadhrangal) in Tamil Nadu. Originally launched as "Water Bodies ExNoRa" in January 2006 by ExNoRa International as a "Spontaneous Platform" to the citizens of Chennai Metropolitan Area, seeking to protect about 35 lakes and tanks, particularly Velacheri, Puzhuthivakkam, Madippakkam, Moovarasampettai, Admbakkam, Villivakkam, Manali Rettai Eri and Saathankadu Thangal to name a few, the movement has today grown into a "Critical Mass" and has been rechristened with a more appropriate name in vernacular Tamil : "Neer ExNoRa" for the purpose of spreading the message across the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu.

'Water Bodies Exnora' really played a pioneering role in protecting Water Bodies in and around Chennai city. Major achievements of Water Bodies Exnora within a short span of one year are as follows: (Click on the images to view larger image)

Before	After	Before	After
Restoration of community Drinking water pond by Kovalam Youth Exnora		Restoration of Pammal tank with public and private partnership
Sholinganallur shallow tank converted to a huge lake with the help of Private and NGO participation		Madambakkam lake restoration with the help of NABARD
Desilting of 13 ponds on the hill slopes for rain catchment in the Vellore hill		Removal of encroachment from Porur lake with the help of government

The lakes were being polluted by dumping garbage, sewage and encroached everywhere. Water Bodies ExNoRa intervened and motivated the local residents to reverse the trend and clean up the water bodies in a matter of weeks and months.

The Objective of transforming it into 'Neer Exnora' as a separate wing, is to bring about greater focus and participation on Water Bodies and concentrate on the protection and expansion of "Neer Nilaigal (Water Bodies)" in Tamil Nadu State. The formal registration of the Trust and launch took place on Friday, November 9, 2007 at Chennai.

The Website under the banner of www.neerexnora.org serves as the Information Highway and provides upto date information on initiatives of Neer Exnora , apart from events , news , statistical data and innovations on water management.

We are now living in the New Millennium. Over the last 50-60 Years, the extent of lands under agricultural cultivation has increased by 50-60% and the number of crops has gone up from 1 to 2 or even 3 per year in some parts of Tamil Nadu. The population of India, which was just 350 Million in 1940, has already exploded beyond the 1 billion mark. The population of Tamil Nadu was just under 30 Million in 1940 and currently stands at nearly 70 Million in 2010. Thus the general population has grown more than 2-3 times and the demand for water has really multiplied over the last 50-60 Years! Even as the spectre of "Water Shortage" due to an explosive demand growth looms large, the water availability is clearly dwindling on all fronts. With the phenomenon of Global Warming at our doors, it looks as though the situation is getting out of control and if corrective action is not taken in time, the worst is not far away! Worse still, the water storage infrastructure built by our ancestors for over hundreds of years in every village and town in Tamil Nadu, has been destroyed by unplanned urbanization and so called modernization of agriculture through deep bore wells. Farmers and authorities have become complacent if not lazy. Every Village Tank, Lake, River Bed and Catchment / Drainage Channel and appurtenance is being neglected and nearly 50% of storage lakes and tanks have already been turned useless due to silting, non-maintanance , encroachment and misuse. As against just 3% in 1950 , nearly 30% of Water Resources ( both surface and ground water) in Tamil Nadu are reported as heavily polluted due to wreckless discharge of sewage water and industrial effluents on the one side and indiscriminate mining, inorganic fertilizers/pesticides and deep bore wells /sea erosion etc on the other.

There is an urgent need to educate the public and arrest this trend. We have to revive the age old system of Kudi Maramathu for deepening and desilting of all canals, tanks , lakes and rivers and inculcate the system across the urban and rural cultures. We have to really treble the storage capacity of all ponds, tanks and lakes and also create a 'Ring Main Water Body Network' in each locale based on landscape and the available potential.

The process of such reversal and restoration is a Marathon Task. Nothing works in a nascent democracy except assertion of public opinion and demonstration of public vigil. Only a Crying Baby gets its milk today! Even as the Government of Tamil Nadu is considering the setting up of a Water Bodies Protection and Promotion Board, it is necessary to mobilise public opinion and exercise vigilance against the ever growing neglect and misuse of 'Neer Nilai Aadharangal', all of which belong to the Tamil people and the Tamil Society at large.

Be it a barren Temple Tank in Chennai or Coimbatore or Madurai City or a bone dry 'Village Oorani' in Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai District or the water-less Paalar River across Northern Tamil Nadu or even the historic Veeranam Lake near Chidambaram, what is critical is the unfettered and uninterrupted flow of rain water, maintenance of catchment canals, prevention of sewage being let in and sustaining the storm water overflow drainage canals all the way.

The deepening and desilting of water bodies merely means a return to the basics and restoring the status quo.We need to build further on it for the future of our children and further generations. Simple desilting and deepening of existing water bodies is the first step for saving every water body. Interestingly, it could turn out to be revenue positive, if managed honestly,as sand is in short supply today and the cost of desilting can be more than met through sale of sand !

Science and Technology has advanced tremendously in the area of Water Conservation and Recycling.Several amazing tools are available today for efficient water management and disposal. Rain water harvesting techniques, Recharging of Aquifers, Construction of small ponds, tanks and lakes in the place of huge dams, Transitional strategies to reduce the impact through dilution of contaminated zones, Zero Discharge Techniques for Industrial effluents, Geo fabrics for minimizing seepage from lakes-dams and Domestic sewage water recycling are only some of the corrective tools which would need to be applied to bring about a paradigm shift and achieve a big bang impact in this direction.

To summarize: At a time when population has nearly tripled, the period of rainfall has halved ,the overall rainfall quantum is going down, the rain water collection canals are encroached and the water storage capacity has become half instead of being tripled if not multiplied ! "Neer ExNoRa" dedicates itself to bring back the age old awareness in the minds of Tamil Society and encourage a mass movement for expediting the restoration and expansion of Water Bodies in each and every village in Tamil Nadu. Neer ExNoRa is the new vibrant platform from the ExNoRa movement for all of those who are passionate about the cause of water for the present and the future.

Come, Let us work together to carry this message to the people at large.

Let us mobilize grass root people to take chage of atleast 10,000 Water Bodies in Tamil Nadu in a pro-active and positive manner and mobilise the real stake holders at the grass roots level

Come , Join “Neer ExNoRa” today !

Form a Neer Panchayat for the Water Bodies near your Area!