With depleting groundwater levels turning out to be a cause for concern, voluntary organisations in the southern suburbs are trying their best to preserve waterbodies.
One such voluntary organisation, Pasumai Peruga Sutham Sei, cleaned up a smaller water body, ‘Palkeni Vinayagar Kulam’ in Old Pallavaram over two weekends.
Pallavaram Municipal Commissioner K Sivakumar, who visited the pond, said it belongs to the Water Resources Department. “There were about 130 encroachers who have gone to the court. After their eviction, the waterbody can be improved further,” he said.
Improvement works were carried out in 2008 in the waterbody at a cost of ₹12 lakh but it could not be completed. “While one side of the pond got a concrete pavement, the other sides were left with thorny bushes,” resident welfare association members said.
Comprehensive clean-up
The restoration involved cleaning up of garbage from the pond, removal of invasive weeds, protective fencing to keep the pond clean and native species plantations on the bund to ensure increased green cover, said Ashok Kumar Sabat, chief adviser, PPSS Trust. Desilting the pond to deepen and increase water holding area, establishing a pit for rainwater harvesting and preventing sewage reaching the pond through stormwater drains were some of the issues taken up with municipality and PWD, he said.
Similar efforts by another NGO, Environmentalist Foundation of India in Old Perungalathur, has yielded the desired results. Last year, the NGO took up improvement works on smaller ponds in Chitra Avenue and Chakra Avenue, as well as the Selliamman temple tank. Residents of Perungalathur said the groundwater level has not depleted due to the improvement works.
A large number of small ponds are becoming dumping grounds, leading to the depletion of the groundwater table, activists said.
