The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rise in water table cheers people

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 28, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rise in water table cheers people

K. Manikandan

Inlet channels along Palar course blocked, say experts

WATER TABLE UP: The Palar river on the right and the Cheyyar river on the left. — Photo: A.Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: The unprecedented rain may have caused all round havoc, but for residents of southern suburbs of Chennai, it was good news as water sources on the Palar river have been replenished.

For close to 10 lakh residents of the southern suburbs of Chennai, the Palar has been the important source of drinking water for more than two decades now. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board has sunk wells in Vengudi, Palayaseevaram, Melacheri and Villiambakkam. Officials said water had come up to ground level and that they would be able to maintain supply of five million gallon litres a day to the various local bodies under the Alandur-Pallavaram Combined Water Supply Scheme.

However, water not flowing on the river below the Palar Anaicut at Arcot is causing concern.

Originating in Nandidurg hills in Karnataka, Palar enters Tamil Nadu through Andhra Pradesh and is rain-fed. There was heavy rain during the South West Monsoon in Karnataka (that includes Palar's catchment areas).

Though there is an impression that the Palar was full of water, it is actually the water drained by the Cheyyar that joins it at Palayaseevaram near Wallajahbad. The water drained into the Palar from the Cheyyar joins the Bay of Bengal near Kadalur village, Sadurangapattinam, off the East Coast Road.

Zero flow upstream

The reason for the zero flow upstream from Palayaseevaram is water from the Palar Anaicut is diverted to fill up 317 tanks and lakes (including Kaveripakkam and Dusi Mamandur, among the biggest in Tamil Nadu) with a storage capacity of 10,000 million cubic feet. As of now, water diverted from the Anaicut has filled up close to 300 lakes and tanks, officials said.

Pointing out that the purpose of the Anaicut was to divert water into the tanks and to discharge surplus water downstream, activists ask if there was no excess water despite the unprecedented rainfall in the past two months.

That Palar river is now bone dry despite the heavy rain in its catchment areas proved only that inlet channels draining water into this river all along its course were blocked or had completely vanished.

They point out that Palar was the only major river in Tamil Nadu that did not witness flooding this season.

Calling upon the State Government to take urgent measures to find out the causes for this, the activists — who undertook a detailed study — said unless it was done, the river, already plundered due to sand mining, would soon die a natural death.

P. Viswanathan, convener, Chitlapakkam Residents' Coordination Committee, said the Government should examine the possibility of constructing a checkdam on the Palar at Palayaseevaram to store water that drained into the sea. Further, the possibility of linking the Cauvery and the Palar should be considered.

Surplus flow

Surplus flow from the Ponnaiyar could also be diverted to the Cheyyar river that had become more dependable, Mr. Viswanathan suggested. During acute water scarcity, it would benefit farmers in downstream areas near Palar river apart helping the residents of the southern suburbs of Chennai, he added.

Senior officials of the Public Works Department said the amount of water realised after the construction of a checkdam at Palayaseevaram would be "very marginal" and that a checkdam at Vayalur was already proposed.

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