The Public Works Department of Tamil Nadu which was established in the year 1858. Public Works Department of Tamil Nadu is one of the oldest Service Departments of the Government, serving in the construction field and maintenance of Irrigation Structures for the past 153 years. This department has over the years, undergone several structural and organizational changes to be in tune with changes in the political and administrative systems and with pace and orientation in the developmental activities.

For a long time till recently both buildings and irrigation activities continued to be under the same Department in Tamil Nadu. In February 2008, the Public Works Department was formally bifurcated by carving out Water Resources Department to attend exclusively to irrigation works. The objective of this bifurcation is to enable the Departments gain specialization and expertise to in the respective.

Presently there are four territorial regions each headed by one Chief Engineer, four specialty functional units i.e.,
(i) Ground Water;
(ii) Operation and Maintenance;
(iii) Plan Formulation;
(iv) Design, Research and Construction Support;

Each under the control of one Chief Engineer in the Water Resources Department. This apart the Institute of Water Studies headed by a Chief Engineer will help the Department in carrying out water balance studies. The Irrigation Management Institute at Tiruchirappalli established in 1984 for running regular training programmes for the farmers as well as serving Engineers and others, will also be under the administrative control of the Water Resources Department.

The Department through its long innings of 150 years has created invaluable capital assets including irrigation infrastructure in the form of dams, reservoirs, tanks canals etc. Some of these stand as a lasting testimony to the technical expertise, professional competence, devotion and commitment of the Department. A few of these are the Dams, Reservoirs and anicuts like Mettur, Bhavani, Manimuthar, Amaravathi, Vaigai, Parambikulam, Sathanur, Palar, Ponnai, Tirukoilur, Srivaikundam etc.

The irrigation infrastructure comprising mainly 75 Dams, 10540 Tanks, 4429 km length of Canals etc., that has been created helps meet the crop water requirement of nearly 33 lakh hectares of gross irrigated area in the State. The Water Resources Organization of the Public Works Department has proved to be the lifeline of the farming community by constantly upgrading and maintaining the vast irrigation infrastructure and ensuring the efficient use of water to the last drop.

The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department under Public Works Department is entrusted with the responsibility of development of water resources of the State for catering to irrigation purposes and also for maintenance of physical infrastructure. The irrigation system demystifies the farmers from the unpredictable nature of climates, monsoons and rainfall and ensure water resources are available throughout the year even in hot summer. This could be possible only by strengthening the irrigation infrastructure facilities like dams on rivers/streams, construction of network of canals, building barrages, pumping of water by electric/diesel motive power, extracting water from stagnant blocks of water such as ponds and lakes and extracting water from underground aquifers by tube wells. The WRD is also responsible to upkeep the drainage system clean to adequately drain the rain water and excess irrigation from the crop fields.

Many dams stand as a testimony to our engineering skill. The organization marches towards better service delivery to the people by adopting to the present day trend of e-governance. The concept of artificial recharge, better water management, restoration of water bodies, water users’ participation in the projects to derive maximum benefit is well understood. The department is working very hard to realise maximum irrigation efficiency. The necessity for intra-linking of rivers for diversion of flood water and enhancing the storage capacity of water bodies to provide adequate water for irrigation, drinking and other purposes have been well taken. The Department is taking all efforts for better service delivery with this long term vision.

Apart from this, the services rendered by the Department in times of natural calamities like monsoon rains and floods and cyclones are remarkable. The Department has undertaken several international funded projects like the EEC assisted Periyar-Vaigai System Improvement Project, World Bank assisted Water Resources Consolidation Project, Hydrology Project, Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) Project, etc. As one of the main objectives of this Department has been to improve irrigation service delivery, this is planned mainly through adoption of participatory irrigation management. There are 1566 water users Associations (WUAs) elected through democratic process who are already in place. In addition to this 2556 WUAs are being formed now. Tamil Nadu is the pioneer in the country in introducing river basin boards for Palar and Tambaraparai with planning in a River Basin framework.

The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department under Public Works Department is entrusted with the responsibility of development of water resources of the State for catering to irrigation purposes and also for maintenance of physical infrastructure. The irrigation system demystifies the farmers from the unpredictable nature of climates, monsoons and rainfall and ensure water resources are available throughout the year even in hot summer. This could be possible only by strengthening the irrigation infrastructure facilities like dams on rivers/streams, construction of network of canals, building barrages, pumping of water by electric/diesel motive power, extracting water from stagnant blocks of water such as ponds and lakes and extracting water from underground aquifers by tube wells. The WRD is also responsible to upkeep the drainage system clean to adequately drain the rain water and excess irrigation from the crop fields.