Siruthulli was born as a trust by the socially conscientious corporate of Coimbatore in June 2003 to address the most decisive and imperative situation of water and environmental problems the city faces.  Siruthuli, meaning “a tiny drop” is indeed a little drop of an idea to motivate the people of the city to come together and save the most valued gift of Mother Nature. Our prime objective is to contemplate and envision creating a public movement to address the environmental issues, especially the Scarcity of water in the city.

Coimbatore is the most beautiful city of Tamilnadu, India located on the banks of the Noyyal River surrounded by the Western Ghats. The city enjoys a pleasant climate, with the northeast and southwest monsoons contributing to 47% and 28% respectively to the total rainfall. Originating from the Velliangiri hills, one of the most sacred and tributaries of Cauvery, the River Noyyal flows through many villages and cities. With an average rainfall of about 700mm, efficient interconnected tanks and canal system was believed to be built by Chalukya Cholas kings. Surplus water from Noyyal is spilled to these tanks in order to prevent flooding. The tanks played a major role in replenishing the groundwater through percolation. Civilization flourished along the banks of the river and so does Agriculture.

But, everything started to fall apart from a charming blossom. Noyyal is shrinking to death due to over-exploitation and pollution. Establishment of industries and modern urbanization in the early 20^th Century has led to an increase in the growth of population. More industries mean more effluent water pumped into river polluting the most basic human need “drinking water”. On the other hand urbanization and an increase in population results in depletion of groundwater level by pumping through bore wells beyond the economical pumping state. Things went from bad to worse in 2003 when the city faced just a trace of a drought-like situation for the first time in the history of Noyyal. The lakes were drying up, the river had run down to a trickle and the groundwater was depleting faster than ever.

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, we will realize we cannot eat money”.

With the little realization of the complication that the city faces, enthusiastic people from every walk of life came together and created a mass people movement with their contributions to save their symbol of life: River Noyyal. In a short span of 7 years, we were able to accomplish a lot through our core objectives like water management, afforestation, waste management, and environmental awareness programs.

Yet, the realization is not complete. We invite more volunteers and corporate to participate in people’s movement to bring life to the dying rivers and hand it safe for our future generations to come. For rivers decide the destiny of civilization grows.