Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Improvement in groundwater quality, says survey

By K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI DEC. 24. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) facilitated a 40 per cent improvement in groundwater quality in Chennai despite short spells of rain, according to a survey conducted by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

With the State Government making RWH mandatory in all buildings, about 99.7 per cent of city's structures, both residential and commercial, had complied as on December 22, a Metrowater official said. This was largely responsible for the improved quality of water in several areas. While concerns over the falling level of groundwater were pertinent, Metrowater officials said the qualitative improvement would also have to be recorded.

To check the impact of RWH on groundwater level and quality, the department conducted a baseline survey in September 2003 and continued to update it every month.

It selected 759 open wells/bore wells in the city. A team, comprising hydrogeology engineers and quality assurance officials, monitored the quality of groundwater in terms of Total Dissolved Salts (TDS) levels.

The survey revealed that salinity has decreased in 303 wells observed during December 2003, according to Metrowater officials. Improvements were seen in areas such as Old Washermanpet, Tondiarpet, Velachery, Adambakkam and Taramani. The other areas showed either marginal or no improvement in the quality of groundwater. Metrowater managing director, V.Thangavelu said though the city's groundwater level has decreased in December due to inadequate rain, there has been a slight increase compared to September this year.

While the metro alone has recorded a 40 per cent increase in groundwater quality, the city and its suburbs together, have recorded a 50 per cent increase in the quality of water. If the rain had been more favourable, the water levels would have increased even further, Mr.Thangavelu explained. This only proved that RWH systems were essential, not only to increase groundwater levels, but also improve the quality of water, he added.

Regarding the water supply, he said that it would be continued irrespective of increase or decrease in rainfall.

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