Groups working towards lake protection and rejuvenation and residents welfare associations recently joined hands to clean up the Sembakkam Eri.
The Sembakkam and Chitlapakkam Lakes Rejuvenation Committee, Sabari Green Foundation, members of Vinobaji Nagar and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association and Sri Sarvamangala Nagar Residents’ Association (SSMNRA) were part of the exercise.
The volunteers cleared garbage and also weeded out Seemai Karuvelam trees in the lake area.
M. Ravi, secretary, SSMNRA, said, “Steps should be taken at the earliest to remove the shrubs to conserve groundwater, which has depleted considerably in the suburbs due to failure on the part of the authorities concerned to de-silt and deepen the water-bodies.”
“We are going to give a petition to the Public Works Department (PWD) in this regard. Steps must also be taken at the earliest to de-silt and deepen the Sembakkam Eri and clear encroachments and arrest discharge of sewage into the sprawling waterbody.”
Residents of Balu Avenue, Gomathi Nagar, Shanthi Avenue, Bharat Avenue, Ambedkar Nagar, Duraisamy Nagar, Chitlapakkam, and Vinobaji Nagar, and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Pallavaram, Samrat Nagar, Kamarajapuram, and Venugopal Swamy Nagar, Sembakkam, are dependent on Sembakkam lake for groundwater, he pointed out.
Ravi also expressed concern over the reply from Pallavapuram Municipality over drawing of water from Sembakkam Lake.
The Municipality has constructed a well on the sprawling waterbody and used to draw water to tide over the drinking water crisis in Pallavaram, Hasthinapuram, Keezhkattalai and Chromepet.
The Sri Sarvamangala Nagar residents were worried that if this practice continues, the groundwater levels will plummet even before summer reaches its peak. In this connection, the Association sent a petition to the Chief Minister’s Cell in December 2016.
“In reply, the Municipality stated that it draws water from Nanmangalam lake and supplies it to residents of Hasthinapuram. Also, action must be initiated at the earliest to prevent the Municipality from discharging sewage into the waterbody. This practice continues despite the presence of an underground drainage system,” Ravi added.
