TAMBARAM: The Maraimalai Nagar Municipality and the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board have drawn up a scheme estimated to cost around Rs. 2.7 crore to increase the quantum and improve the quality of water supplied to residents there.

Among the first satellite townships, Maraimalai Nagar (about 18 km from Tambaram) had an abundant supply of water from the dry bed of the Palar river at Ayapakkam village beyond Kalpakkam. The scheme commenced simultaneously with the development of the satellite township and water began to be supplied from the early 1980's onwards.

But over the past few years, water supplied through the individual connections to local residents has been murky with a pungent smell. Officials attributed this to high iron content.

Over exploitation of resources from the Palar river was probably the most important reason for the iron content, they said. Under the Maraimalai Nagar Scheme, the TWAD Board supplies water to the Ford car factory nearby, the Madras Export Processing Zone in Tambaram and the Tamil Nadu Housing Board quarters near Tambaram, apart from the satellite township. While the TWAD Board installed iron removal plants at the industrial units as a deposit work, residents of the Municipality and the TNHB quarters had to put up with the iron content.

Murky water

Even after installing expensive filtering units in their houses, water continued to be murky. Considering the increasing demands and the need to tackle the problems of poor water, the local body decided to embark on a proposal in association with the TWAD Board, said Chairman of Maraimalai Nagar Municipality M. Gopikannan. The local body would be spending Rs. 2.69 crore for the scheme that includes sinking of additional deep borewells and collection sumps at Ayapakkam village, the water source. Further, additional boosters would also be installed to pump the increased volume of water to the Municipality, said Mr. Gopikannan, of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The local body, with a population of about 50,000 people, has about 3,600 individual water connections and at present receives about 20 lakh litres of water a day from Ayapakkam. Once the scheme is completed, they would received an additional 6.5 lakh litres a day and more assesees could receive water through individual connections, Mr. Gopikannan added.

The most important component of the plan — iron removal plant — would be to treat a volume of 35 lakh litres a day. Once the plant is completed, residents could hope to consume the same quality of Palar water they once used to.

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