The current system of rainwater being drained into the sea through flood carriers should be discontinued. Rainwater should be drained into waterbodies. This viewpoint was expressed by K. Subramani, founder, Sabari Green Foundation. He was speaking at seminar on “Waterbodies and Water Scarcity”, organised by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Bodies and Waterways Rejuvenation Forum, on March 25 at Sri Ayyappan Temple Dhyana Mandapam in Madipakkam.
The Forum, which was formed by veteran environmental and social activists, V. Rama Rao, V. Subramani, and K. Balachander, aims at bringing about transparency and accountability in rejuvenation of waterbodies and public awareness about how valuable these natural resources are. Subramani urged participants to protect the waterbodies in and around their neighbourhood. The seminar was largely attended by residents of southern suburbs, which has many lakes, many of them located bang in the middle of busy residential sections.
To illustrate the point, on the busy Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Road, three lakes — Narayanapuram Eri, Keezhkatalai Eri and Pallavaram Periya Eri — are located. And, of course, it is on this stretch that the celebrated Pallikaranai marsh is found.
ADVERTISEMENT
On the Medavakkam-Mambakkam Main Road, there are the Perumbakkam lake and Sithalapakkam lake. In the interior areas between the Medavakkam-Mambakkam Main Road and Old Mahabalipuram Road, Thazambur lake and Ottiyambakkam lake are found.
Then, there is Sholingamallur lake, bang opposite the Infosys office on the IT Corridor. In localties off the Tambaram-Velachery Main Road, one finds Sembakkam lake, Chitlapakkam lake and Selaiyur lake.
Subramani told the participants that if they found anything amiss with any of the lakes in their neighbourhoods, they should bring it to the notice of the Foundation, which would take up the matter with the authorities concerned.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Foundation has restored more than 35 waterbodies in the districts of Kancheepuram, Chennai, and Tiruvallur. K. Balakrishnan, state coordinator, Swaraj Abhiyan, said, “Water scarcity and flooding would not have occurred the way they have, if the authorities concerned had taken steps to de-silt and deepen waterbodies.”
He sought the inter-linking of the Pallikaranai marsh with waterbodies in the area to increase the ground water table. With water channels, rainwater is carried from the Marsh through Kamakshi Hospital, Sholinganallur, East Coast Road and Okkiyam Maduvu and discharged into the Bay of Bengal.
At present, there is no mechanism to direct the rainwater from the water channels to the lakes, he said, adding that these channels are maintained by the local bodies and the lakes by the Public Welfare Department. Often, there is glaring lack of coordination between the local bodies and the PWD. The channels are often used to discharge sewage into the waterbodies. Besides lakes, even channels meant to carry excess rainwater from one waterbody to another are encroached upon, he pointed out.
Dr. S. Janakirajan, professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, said, “Chennai needs 11 tmc feet of water every year to tide over the water scarcity. But, in the man-made deluge of 2015, around 300 tmc feet of rainwater was let into the sea,” he said.