Concrete is poured on the Krishnampathy tank bund abutting the Poosaripalayam Road and Sundapalayam Road as the Coimbatore Corporation has taken up lake development work under the Smart Cities Mission project.
The Corporation had taken up the tank under the third phase after taking up Ukkadam Periyakulam, Valankulam in the first phase and a few other tanks in the second phase. The Corporation had planned to spend ₹ 21 crore to develop the tank and scheduled to complete the work by this December.
The work involved beautifying the tank by creating walking track, seating space and other amenities that would attract visitors, said sources overseeing the project.
While work is on to develop the bund, the water spread area presents a complete different picture in that it is covered with water weeds so much so that in several parts of the tank, only the green weed is visible and only in a few others the water is seen.
Environmentalists said the water weed grew fast because the Corporation had not taken steps to stop the flow of sewage into the tank. The 125-acre Krishnampathy tank that is a part of the River Noyyal system received water from both the South West Monsoon and North East Monsoon through the Chithirai Chavadi Channel and from catchments in Marudhamalai through the Karupparayan Kovil drain.
The drain flowed through Vadavalli and Seeranaickenpalayam to drain water into the tank. But the drain, at present, was filled with sewage, the environmentalists said and added that unless the Corporation dredged the drain and cleaned the water, sewage would continue to flow into the tank to aid the weed growth.
The environmentalists further said that this had been the case thus far with all the lake development work that the Corporation had taken up as the beautification measures seemed to have taken precedence over environment work.
Sources in the Corporation said treating the sewage flowing into the Krishnampathy tank as well as other tanks taken up for development was as much a priority as the beautification work. The Corporation had started work on waste water treatment plant in a few tanks and it would soon start the work in Krishnampathy tank as well.
