The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Seepage in Red Hills lake minor: officials

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Seepage in Red Hills lake minor: officials

By K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI, APRIL 2. Water from the Red Hills lake has been seeping out for three days now. What officials termed as `minor' seepage occurred, as the level crossed 10 feet, halfway point of the lake's depth.

A Public Works department official said the seepage did not make any difference to storage and would not affect water supply to the city.

On Saturday, it was noticed that water seeping through `Rock Toe', bottom part of the earthen bund, was stagnating near the bund opposite Jones Tower. The tower conveys water to the Kilpauk shaft for treatment. The lake, fed with water from the Kandaleru reservoir, has a storage of 1,864 million cubic feet (mcft) against its capacity of 3,300 mcft.

Ruling out any major leakage, a PWD official said only "five litres a second seeped through the gravel rock. The bund has been raised to 14 feet and the seepage would prevent the earthen bund from collapsing due to water pressure.'

Another official said seepage was natural in reservoirs with earthen bunds. "Only if the turbid water seeps out, can we identify it as a leakage, indicating collapse of bund." At least 4-5 mcft was lost in evaporation, which could not be avoided.

Asked whether a concrete bund could be constructed, the official said earthen bund was needed for reservoirs with a large capacity and with an area more than 8-km circumference.

However, steps were being taken to strengthen the bund, he added.

At present, Metrowater draws 100 million litres of water every day (mld) from the lake.

To meet alternative day supply of 500 mld, Metrowater also draws water from the Veeranam lake and well fields in the neighbouring districts.

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