Chennai, 23 Oct 2026: In a bid to improve groundwater levels and st rengthen water conservation across Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday launched a statewide rainwater harvesting awareness campaign aimed at restoring existing harvesting structures, creating new facilities and encouraging households, institutions and industries to conserve rainwater.
The campaign, spearheaded by the Municipal Adminis tration and Water Supply Department, will cover all Corpo rations, Municipalities, Town Panchayats and Village Panchayats across the State.
It will focus on making rainwater harvesting a people's movement through public partici pation, regular mainte nance of infrastructure and stricter enforce ment of building regulations.
The Chief Minister unveiled the 'Thuli' logo at the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and D rainage Board head quarters in Chepauk and inspected a model house demonstrating rainwater harvesting techniques. He later formally launched the awareness campaign at Marina Beach and watched a short film highlighting the impor tance of rainwater conservation.
As part of the initiative, the government will undertake a district-wise inspection of existing rainwater harvesting structures and repair or renovate facilities that are not functioning properly. Government departments and local bodies have been directed to ensure that all rainwater harvesting systems under their controlremain operational.
Officials will inspect rooftop collec tion systems, d rainage channels, filtration chambers, recha rge pit s and well s in government buildings, schools, hospitals, apartment complexes and commercial esta blishments.
The government will also strengthen enforcement of rainwater harvesting provisions under building approval regulations in urban and rural local bodies. Apart from new buildings, existing houses, residential apartments, commercial complexes, insti tutions and industrial establishments will be encouraged to install and maintain rainwater harvesting systems.
Depending on soil conditions, geological characteristics and local water availability, structures such as recharge trenches, percolation pits, recharge wells, silt traps and filtration systems will be developed to improve groundwater recharge.
Government departments and local bodies have also been instructed to take steps to collect and reuse rainwater within their premises. Rainwater harvesting measures will be integrated into new urban and rural drinking water supply projects wherever technically feasible.
The initiative will also be integrated with existing programmes relating to groundwater recharge, watershed development, urban water management, rural development and climate resilience to ensure effective utili sation of resources and avoid duplication of work.
P ubli c Work sand Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna, School Education Minister Raj mohan, Artificial Intelligence, Infor mation Technology and Digital Services Minister Dr R. Kumar, Finance Minister N. Maria Wilson, Chief Secretary M. Sai kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Principal Secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav and senior government officials attended the event.