Summer is here but some portions of the unpolluted Cooum river in Tiruvallur district have retained sufficient water, particularly near the newly built check dams. Encouraged by this, the Water Resources Department plans to rebuild a dilapidated check dam and construct new storage structures to conserve more water.
According to officials, the portions of the Cooum river near the check dams at Korattur, Pudumavilangai and Putlur have water up to a depth of 10 feet. With the existing check dams aiding in sustaining recharge, the department has speeded up the work to rebuild the dilapidated check dam at Sorancheri, which was more than four decades old. Located at the 39th km of the Cooum river, the check dam is nearly seven km downstream of Korattur check dam.
Restoring the check dam at Sorancheri, which has a capacity to store seven million cubic feet of water, will not only conserve surface water but also recharge the water table in the semi-critical zone. Groundwater depletion had been a cause for concern in the rapidly urbanising areas around the river. “We are planning to check the groundwater level and quality in the neighbouring localities to check the level of recharge and impact of existing check dams,” said an official.
The new check dam would be built for a height of 1.5 metre across the 100-metre wide at a cost of ₹5.62 crore. The work would be taken up in April or May. There are eight check dams across the Cooum river, the official said.
Similarly, plans are afoot to build two check dams across the Cooum and the Kosasthalaiyar, which branch out at Kesavaram. The project to build the check dam across the 100-metre wide Cooum river at Perambakkam, 7 km downstream of Kesavaram check dam, is estimated to cost ₹5 crore.
Another check dam is proposed to come up at Lakshmivilasapuram across the Kosasthalaiyar at a cost of ₹6.5 crore. Proposals for more such storage structures are being chalked out to conserve optimum resource.
The prospects of improving sites along the check dams in unpolluted stretches of the Cooum as recreation facilities were discussed during a recent inspection of the advisory committee on mitigation and management of flood risk in Chennai.
