Besides the Facebook group on Cooum - A Cultural Mapping, there is yet another community page which makes no bones about its intentions: I want my Cooum river to be cleaned.
The effort seems to be directed at mobilising public support to get the Cooum cleaned and restore it back to a river where one could swim in or ferry a boat ride.
The administrators of the group do some plain speak too: I don’t want my river to be dirty; and I won't let people drain sewage into it. That is probably the crux of it all. A river which was once compromised with a dam built near its source was further assaulted by the city people treating this precious water body as a common drain. Though not frequently active, the group has nonetheless thrown its members, and the city residents a challenge: Get the river cleaned together.
There's nothing that concerted effort by a group of determined citizens cannot achieve. Now, it remains to be seen if this will help turn the windmills of the establishment and actually bring about change to renew this river’s lost glory that was once the lifeline of Madras.
