Suffering from acute water shortage from March, residents of Pallavaram, Chromepet, Chitlapakkam and Sembakkam are waiting for the northeast monsoon to set in.
They complain that though the area is surrounded by waterbodies, no steps have been taken to rejuvenate them and they receive water only once a week through tankers. Several residents have fitted Reverse Osmosis (RO) units or buy water through tankers and store it in the sumps.
“Last year’s deficit rainfall resulted in severe shortage. This year, no one can predict the monsoon and its impact. We have been urging the local bodies and Public Works Department (PWD) to revive and rejuvenate waterbodies. Yet, till date, no action has been taken,” said V. Santhanam, president, Federation of Civic and Welfare of Pallavaram (FCWAP).
As the Keezhkattalai Lake comes under the jurisdiction of Water Resources Department (WRD) of the Public Works Department (PWD), PWD officials are refusing to give the no-objection certificate to the Pallavapuram Municipality to de-silt it, aggravating the situation, residents said.
“Also, failure on the part of the authorities concerned in removing encroachments and overgrown weeds, putting and ending dumping of garbage on the banks of waterbodies and arresting sewage inflow through stormwater drains and stopping illegal drawing of water, have resulted in huge destruction of waterbodies,” Santhanam said.
The waterbodies, including Nalla Eri on MES Road, East Tambaram; Mudichur Lake, West Tambaram; Peerkankaranai Lake, between Tambaram and Perungalathur; are run over with weeds and bushes and has become dumping grounds.
“We are dependent on groundwater. Nalla Eri helps to maintain the groundwater level. But in the coming months, there is a possibility of the waterbody getting dried up. The lake has shrunk in size (in terms of square kilometres) due to overgrown weeds. The water level has come down,” Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee, a resident of East Tambaram, said.
L. Sundararaman, president, Muthulakshmi Nagar Welfare Association, Chitlapakkam, says, “The Chitlapakkam Eri should be cleared of weeds and garbage. Steps should be taken to deepen the lake to store rainwater, which will help recharge the groundwater level.”
K. Ramakrishna, a longtime resident of Chitlapakkam, while appreciating the move by the Lower Palar Basin Division of the WRD to construct a weir on the Sembakkam Lake, said steps must be taken to construct Under Ground Drainage (UGD) system. Without UGD system, waste water is being discharged into stormwater drains, which are supposed to carry rainwater, polluting the Chitlapakkam and Sembakkam waterbodies.
Unless steps are taken to install a sewage treatment plant facility at the inlet, through which sewage water is discharged into the water-bodies, de-silting and deepening would not help, he added.
Official sources say that around four NGOs have shown interest in reviving the waterbodies and talks are on.
