To enjoy additional benefits
CONNECT WITH US
December 13, 2023 08:01 pm | Updated 09:49 pm IST – CHENNAI
COMMents
SHARE
READ LATER
The Red Hills lake is now brimming with a storage of nearly 93% against its full capacity of 3,300 mcft. Photo: File | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The rear portions of Red Hills lake, which is one of the major sources of drinking water to Chennai, needs much attention, as the waterbody continues to face the challenges of sewage pollution and dumping of garbage along its boundary.
Residents and activists noted that sewage continued to flow freely on the rear side of the lake in five locations falling under both the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and the Avadi Municipal Corporation (AMC) limits. Sewage linked to storm-water drains flowed into the portion of lake near Venkateswara Nagar, Pudur Bhanu Nagar, and Kallikuppam in zone 7 and Thirumullaivoyal and Venkatachalam Nagar in the Avadi limits.
Spread over 4,500 acre of land, the lake contributes nearly 448 million litres of water to the city daily. The lake now has a storage of nearly 93% against its full capacity of 3,300 million cubic feet (mcft). Residents said more focus was provided to the main bund and portions of the lake along GNT Road. Damage on the parapet wall of the inspection track over the dam was also discussed recently.
S. Sundaramurthy, president, Puzhal Eri Arafat Eri Padhukappu Makkal Iyakkam, alleged that portions of minor inlet channels bringing water into the lake from areas such as Arikambedu and Thirumullaivoyal had been encroached upon, and this led to inundation in neighbouring areas, such as Nandini Nagar and Kumaran Nagar in Thirumullaivoyal. Though the AMC has set up a sewage treatment plant, the facility is yet to become operational, he added.
The boundary of the lake, particularly near the Arikambedu-Thirumullaivoyal junction, gets treated as a makeshift dump yard. Though the waste gets cleared whenever complaints are made, there is no permanent respite for the issue. The government must ensure that the area of a radius of 500 m around the lake is protected, residents said.
Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said the department was coordinating with civic bodies on the issue. The department had also written a letter to construct an underground drainage network in the surrounding areas and plug sewage outfalls.
An action plan has also been prepared following the directive of the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal. As raising bunds would prove detrimental to the waterbody, encroachments along the bund of inlet channels would be checked, the officials added.
COMMents
SHARE
BACK TO TOP
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
