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Tamil Nadu
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Chennai
A website will be launched in the next few days Experts in environment, fisheries and other areas will be involved to provide a holistic solution CHENNAI: A project to tackle environmental degradation along the Cooum will be implemented with the involvement of all stakeholders in the coming year, according to a senior official of the Public Works Department. A website will be launched in the next few days. It will contain all expert studies on the Cooum and invite more public and expert opinion. Experts in environment, fisheries and other areas will be involved to provide a holistic solution, the official said. Two meetings were held on July 30 and August 1, with environmental specialist Prasad Modak presenting case studies on similar projects on the Narmada and Thames basins, and discussing solutions to the Cooum problem. As a result, the officials decided to take a multi-disciplinary approach. A thorough scientific analysis would be undertaken, and some of the suggested solutions such as storing water in a reservoir for flushing the river regularly, improving pisciculture in the upper stretches and sewage treatment in the city stretches would be studied carefully, the official said. A Cooum sub-basin office has been set up in Chennai, with experts, executive engineers, technical consultants and others deputed from the State government for a year to recommend improvements as part of a World Bank-funded Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Waterbodies Restoration Management (IAMWARM) project that will cover 63 river basins in the State at a cost of Rs. 2,600 crore. While the Cooum’s upper reaches, from the Kesavaram anicut to the Zamin Korattur anicut, were used for irrigation and was relatively clean, the stretch from Zamin Korattur to Koyambedu has been suffering environmental degradation, with the stretch in the city at the saturation point as far as pollution is concerned, the official said. To relieve this, a three-pronged approach would be adopted. It would start with an awareness programme for farmers in the upstream to conserve water, and for all stakeholders in the lower reaches to reduce pollution. On the upper reaches, water conservation was a major issue. Regular flushing of the river was required, but farmers were reluctant to release the water. Technological improvements would be suggested to the farmers, with recommendations for changing crop-patterns and releasing more water for the lower reaches, the official said. The final recommendations of the office would be presented by 9-12 months to the government, he said.
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