Geographically, Ulundurpet is a black area and despite drilling up to 500 ft below ground level, water is not available for farming. So the farmer has to depend on water from the 'Kanmai's (or traditional water bodies) for their farming. But the kanmais prevailing in all the villages are not de-silted, renovated or deepened for effective storage of rain water for extensive cultivation. The sluice canals and the catchment area of the lake have not been de-silted for decades resulting in the depletion of the water storage capacity of the lake; the supply canals get silted and filled with shrubs. Hence even with abundant rains, the land is cultivated only for once a year.

Vivekananda Seva Pratishtan completed a Tank Renovation Programme with the financial assistance of CAPART, (Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India) Hyderabad at Pullur village of Ulundurpet block and at Semmanangur village of Thirunavalur block, both in Villupuram District.

Water conservation efforts have also been done at the Ashram campus. Every drop of rain water that falls in the campus is collected, stored and utilised. Various water conservation methods have been adopted to achieve this.

Future Plans
In the Ashram campus, the Seva Pratishtan plans to set-up a Rain Centre by 2004 with models on 21 different methods of rain water harvesting practices. This centre would function as a resource centre for rain water harvesting for the entire villupuram district.

- CAPART (council for advancement of people's action and rural technology)