Efforts to restore the Villivakkam reservoir, also called the ICF Lake, are in full swing. After opening a sprawling herbal garden and an orchard last month, officials are ensuring the waterbody is cleaned and desilted.
“We have engaged a contractor to filter out the sludge and slurry mixed with water, using dredgers. While the solid waste is disposed of, the filtered water is let back into the 24-feet-deep lake. This process is expected to be completed by December. Early next year, we will test the quality of the water, and confirm if is potable,” says K.N. Babu, secretary, ICF.
This waterbody, located in Ayanavaram Railway Colony, was once a major source of drinking water.
According to the official, the lake improvement work is a pet project of Sudhanshu Mani, General Manager, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), as he wants to see it restored to its old status.
The Villivakkam reservoir, which came into existence in the 1930s, provided water to the residents of the railway colony until it was polluted. Currently, raw water is being used to clean coaches.
The official says the seven water wells sunk in the lake are not polluted.
To improve the quality of fauna in the lake, some species of fish will be replaced by other species.
“The catfish have become immune to the pollutants in the water. Being predatory by nature, they eat other fish. Therefore, we will remove the catfish and let in smaller fish from the Indian carp family — such as rohu and catla — that feed largely on algae,” says Babu.
Interestingly, ICF is converting the copse of trees, uprooted during Vardah, into manure.
“Around 90 tonnes of woods from these dead trees, which once lined the lake, were chipped for the beautification process. And around 40 tonnes of the dead trees will be crushed and used as natural manure for our in-house green drive, and at the herbal garden and orchard as well,” says the official.
