The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Action sought to halt pollution of lake

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 14, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Action sought to halt pollution of lake

K. Manikandan

Sewage contaminating waterbody in Madipakkam, say activists and residents

SEEKING INTERVENTION: Madipakkam residents want action against contamination of the lake in their area. — Photo : A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : While welcoming the Environment Department's proposal to rejuvenate and improve the Madipakkam lake, residents and activists of this southern suburb near Pallavaram have appealed for immediate intervention of the State Government to prevent contamination of the water body.

About a month ago, the Department had initiated a scheme to protect lakes in four coastal districts of the State affected by the tsunami. In Chennai, among the water bodies selected under the scheme was Madipakkam lake, coming under the revenue limits of Kancheepuram district.

Residents of Madipakkam recalled that the lake's original expanse was about 64 acres and had now shrunk by nearly 8 acres due to encroachments.

Stating that the lake was one of the biggest in Madipakkam and nearby areas, residents and members of civic groups, including the Federation of Welfare Associations in Madipakkam and Exnora International, have called for urgent measures to prevent sewage contaminating the lake.

Precious source

Residents said the rain water run-off from many areas, including Pallavaram and Keelkatalai besides from Madipakkam drained into this lake and at present, it was a precious source for re-charge of ground water in the area. The Madipakkam Panchayat had sunk more than a dozen infiltration wells around the lake to supply drinking water to residents.

However, the water body was not given the importance and attention it deserved, residents point out.

Of late, there have been attempts to usurp parts of the lake where the water had receded. Sewage from many areas of Keelkatalai and Madipakkam was also being drained into the lake. Some of the channels were choked with plastic waste and others served only to drain raw sewage, the residents said.

They also feared that the construction inside the lake in the form of storm water drains by Pallavaram Municipality would further shrink the expanse. Pallavaram Municipal Chairman E.Karunanidhi said they were building the drains to channelise rainwater into the lake directly, in order to prevent inundation of low-level areas of Keelkatalai and its adjoining areas. Apart from preventing inundation, the drains would also help in increasing water retention, he said.

"Let us not wait till the State Environment Department initiates measures to protect the lake. The discharge of sewage into it should be stopped immediately," said K.R.Subramaniam, a Madipakkam activist who lives close to the lake.

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