Expressing disappointment over reservoirs around Chennai drying up completely and the city becoming dependent on water supply from Veeranam in Cuddalore district, the Madras High Court on Tuesday called upon Collectors of all districts to submit reports on steps taken by them to maintain storage levels in water sources within their jurisdiction.
Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad issued the direction after wondering how government officials could have allowed Cholavaram and Red Hills reservoirs to dip to zero storage level as against their capacity to hold 1,081 and 3,300 million cubic feet (mcft) of water, respectively. Chembarambakkam too has just 1 mcft of water though it can hold 3,645 mcft.
Not convinced with Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s explanation that deficit rainfall since 2017 was the reason for the poor storage level in the reservoirs and consequent reduction of water supply to the city from 830 million litres a day (mld) to 525 mld, the judges stressed on the need for putting in place better water management practices.
In his affidavit, CMWSSB Chief Engineer S. Arumugam told the court that there were around 210 waterbodies in Chennai and for centuries they had played a vital role in ensuring water security to the city and surrounding areas. In order to protect them, the Chief Minister had recently announced the implementation of a Sustainable Water Security Mission.
Out of the 210 waterbodies, five had already been restored at a cost of ₹5.95 crore. Work was also in progress for restoration and rejuvenation of Villivakkam tank, spread over 25.5 acres, at a cost of ₹16 crore. Works were nearing completion with respect to 52 other waterbodies, which were being rejuvenated at an outlay of ₹18.2 crore, he said.
“Two more large waterbodies are to be restored at a cost of ₹25.29 crore,” the chief engineer added, without naming them. He stated that a detailed project report had been prepared for restoration of 55 other lakes at a cost of ₹45.66 crore and added that 38 more waterbodies were being restored by private firms under corporate social responsibility initiatives.
“On completion of all these projects, around one thousand million cubic feet of water will be available for Chennai city and shall recharge the groundwater table and also relieve the neighbourhoods of water stagnation during monsoon,” the chief engineer told the court. He also informed the judge about the working of two desalination plants at Nemmeli and Minjur.
He said that the government had decided to establish two more desalination plants and added that works for their establishment were at different stages. Of the two plants, one with a capacity of 150 mld was expected to start functioning at Nemmeli from 2021 and another with a capacity of 400 mld would be commissioned by 2024.
After taking note of the submissions, the judges wanted to know the status of waterbodies situated across the State and the steps taken by the district administration to maintain them. They directed the Public Works Department Secretary to collate the details and submit them in the court by June 27.
