TN dispatches teams to study pollution in Muttukadu backwaters

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

After the backwaters of Muttukadu turned toxic green due to pollution
and untreated sewage being mixed with the water, the state government
has dispatched teams to identify the pollutants.

Teams from TWAD board, directorate of town and country
planning, Metro Water and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority have been
dispatched to Muttukadu to identify the pollutants as well as
violations by the buildings.

This comes in the wake of The New Indian Express exposing the fact
that the greenish tinge of Muttukadu water is due to harmful algal
bloom of the colonial form of microcystis aeruginosa, considered to be
the one of the most cosmopolitan among the planktonic cyanobacteria.
This alga bloom is due to dumping of untreated sewage and effluents
which has resulted in a spike in inorganic nutrients nitrate and
phosphate, that in turn made the warm tropical water the perfect
cocktail for the algae to bloom.

A DTCP official told Express that a survey was carried out by its
officials under an assistant director. “We have identified six
construction that have violated coastal regulation zone norms. Most of
them are residential buildings but these are not multi-storied
buildings,” the DTCP official said.

He said that DTCP has sent in a report to the district collector who
is also the District Coastal Zone Management Authority chairman as
well as chairman of Mahabalipuram Local Planning Authority.

“It is up to the collector to initiate action in this regard,” the
DTCP official said.

The official said that he felt the mouth of the estuary should be kept
open and the sea water should be let in then the pollution levels in
the backwater may decline as it has been in the case of Adyar estuary.

Meanwhile, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has dispatched
two teams to check whether untreated sewage is let into the Buckingham
canal.

The team would be scouring various villages to check the effectiveness
of sewage treatment plants in the area and whether buildings are
letting out untreated sewage into the water, a CMDA official
said.

“If the sewage treatment plants are functioning in these multi-storied
buildings, then officials would also find out from where the sewage is
being let out,” the official said.

However, the officials blame the tankers from various parts of the
city for polluting the Muttukadu lake. “They are the ones which are
letting out untreated sewage into the water,” he said.