The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Tambaram water scheme cheers residents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Tambaram water scheme cheers residents

K. Manikandan

Project aims to tap more Palar water to ensure daily supply

HOPEFUL OF SOLUTION: Residents scramble for water near the pumping station on Mudichur Road in Tambaram. They expect that once the water supply improvement scheme is implemented, their troubles will end. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : The announcement of a new drinking water scheme for Tambaram Municipality has gladdened residents of this water-starved town, dependent on the Palar river for more than 30 years.

On April 11, Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin announced in the State Assembly that the scheme would be implemented at a cost of Rs. 32.6 crore. In the words of officials and engineers themselves, it would be a massive project that would create new sources.

Help from Centre

Half the project's cost is expected from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The balance will be made up by a grant from the State government, support from Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Municipality's own funds.

Senior officials of the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply said that in June last year, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage was asked to prepare a detailed project report. Following this, the announcement was made in the Assembly taking into consideration the gap in requirements and actual supply.

Senior engineers of the TWAD Board said Tambaram designed its own scheme to supply drinking water from Palar in 1967 and a major upgradation was carried out in 1996. Against its requirements of 160 lakh litres a day, it now received only about 50 lakh litres daily. In 2010, its requirements would be about 300 lakh litres a day.

According to the engineers, the thrust of the project was to tap sources and create infrastructure to supply and store more than 200 lakh litres every day, so that daily supply could be possible three years from now. In addition, Tambaram was also expected to receive close to 30 lakh litres from the Krishna water scheme and another substantial quantity from the Pallavaram - Tambaram Combined Water Supply Scheme:

The key components included sinking 13 infiltration wells in the river, 9 of them in Melachery and two each in Pazhayaseevaram and Ullavur. At present, water is supplied from 10 wells in Villiyambakkam and Melachery. Plans to increase storage capacity in the form of ground level service reservoirs (sumps) and overhead tanks are an integral part of this proposal. The proposal reinforces how dependent Tambaram is on Palar for water supply. The TWAD Board and Municipal Administration are already discussing delinking some more local bodies from the Palar supply, and attaching them to Metrowater. If that were to happen, Tambaram and a few pockets would end up as the only local bodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai to get Palar water supply, the most preferred choice of water in this part of Chennai. Civic groups have welcomed the proposal and hoped that once completed, it would put an end to the water problems plaguing Tambaram, `southern gateway to Chennai.'

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