Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Mayhem over Cauvery” (September 14). The cultivation of water-intensive crops such as hybrids and GM crops, apart from depletion of groundwater, is resulting in conflicts. Natural farming helps build humus and the water retention capacity of soils, hence it should be the way forward for both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
lessons need to be drawn from the fate of Noyyal, a Cauvery tributary that flows through Coimbatore, which has turned ‘dead’ due to toxic untreated textile industry effluents. The onus lies more on Tamil Nadu to curtail dependence on its neighbour and usher in water self-sufficiency, since it suffers the disadvantage of being at the receiving end, both literally and metaphorically.