Instead of bringing cheers, the drainage channels being constructed at Bharani Nagar on North Bypass Road here caused panic among residents as the Corporation has reportedly proposed to take the wastewater collected in this colony to an irrigation tank actually recharging the area’s groundwater table.
The 20-year-old residential colony that came into existence amidst the paddy fields after realtors’ greediness engulfed vast stretch of fertile lands to slicing them into housing plots is gradually getting basic infrastructure for the benefit of 350-odd middle and upper middle class families. As part of this development programme, the Corporation has now started constructing drainage channels to avoid stagnation of wastewater.
Since this residential colony is yet to get drinking water connection from the Corporation, they have to rely only on the groundwater for all their needs.
"Instead of taking the drainage to this tank, which was actually nourishing the paddy cultivated in this area a decade ago and also recharging groundwater, the Corporation should think of connecting the drainage channel with the underground drainage scheme. If the drainage is taken to this tank, the groundwater will get seriously polluted and the existing water source for this small population will become useless,” says Saravanan, a resident of this colony.
Corporation Commissioner R. Lakshmi told The Hindu that the urban local body was exploring the possibilities of setting up an effluent treatment plant to treat the drainage before discharging it into the tank.
“If the cost of the proposed effluent treatment plant (ETP) is less than taking the drainage to the existing underground drainage system, we’ll go for the ETP,” Ms. Lakshmi said.
