Artificial hill

The bill for the hill

An interview with Arun Ambathy (Major ret’d), By Alan

The cleared forest area intended for the hill. “The hill, in providing a wonderful viewpoint of both the Matrimandir and the sea, will encourage real estate speculation and the growth of tourist facilities in the area

On 6th January, 2012, Michael Bonke, along with Toine van Megen and Harald Kraft, made a presentation to the Auroville community about Auroville’s future energy and drinking water needs [published in AVToday # 271, February 2012].

The progress of the Matrimandir Lake

An interview with Michael Bonke, Arjun and Rohan, By Alan and Carel

The ongoing excavation of the second lake stretch. Photo taken on April 23rd, 2024

April 2024. Trucks are driving up and down, day and night, to transport earth dug up from the second section temporary hillock opposite the Town Hall.

The first section of the Matrimandir test lake nears completion

Feature, By Carel

The first section of the 10 metres deep and 100 metres long Matrimandir test lake is nearing completion. By the end of September, the digging was finalized, two five-metre high walls of concrete lego blocks had come up on either side of the lake, and the lake’s floor and slopes were clad with a high density polyethylene (hdpe) liner embedded between two layers of geotextile.

Mini test ponds for the Matrimandir Lake

Feature, By Carel

The lake around the Matrimandir was foreseen by The Mother. Already in 1965, years before Auroville was founded, She had given Nata the task of studying the lake and how the water could be sourced.