The causeways across the Cooum, upstream of city limits, which were inundated after recent rain, have been closed temporarily.
Officials of the Water Resources Department said with the unpolluted stretch of the Cooum receiving good inflow, the river carried about 2,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second). This was enough to inundate some of the causeways. A few causeways across the river at Maduravoyal and Adayalampattu have been barricaded to prevent entry of vehicles.
The check dams in various places, including Pudumavilangai, Putlur and Jamin Korattur, were overflowing. Although it had been proposed to flush the Cooum by diverting water from the Poondi reservoir, the department has not taken any steps in this regard as the river had a good flow.
To conserve water, the department is set to build a check dam across the river at Adigathur by mid-January. Officials said the storage structure would be constructed for a height of 1.5 metre across the 200-metre wide river. It would have a capacity to store 50 million cubic feet of water and would capacity to regulate the flow of water up to 32,000 cusecs.
The ₹17-crore project would mainly help recharge water table in nearly seven surrounding villages, including Egattur, Thandalam Selai and Kadambathur in Tiruvallur district. Residents were dependent on the river for their irrigation and drinking water needs.
The department had transferred water from Pudumavilangai check dam across the river to a chain of tanks in Kesavanallathur, Kadambathur and Egattur. There are possibilities to create a direct link from the portion of the river near Adigathur to fill Egattur tank, the officials added. The project was expected to be completed within one year.
