Illegal development along catchment areas threaten Chennai’s water security
C Shivakumar/ ENS
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu as a whole may have got five per cent of excess rainfall
but it has failed to bring a smile among the city water managers who
are looking to skies to fill up the reservoirs supplying water to the
Chennai.
As the rains begin to elude Chennai, water managers are mulling at
going in for contingency plan. If one goes by the Chennai Metro Water
data on lakes levels figures, it seems the city has less than 600
million cubic feet of water when compared to the same period last
year.
Although, water managers have yet to press the panic button and are
praying to rain gods to fill up the reservoir but then the dry days
can’t be ruled out.
A senior Metro Water source told Express that there is still two to
three weeks left before the monsoon will come to an end. “We expect
there will be some rains,” he said.
To a query on what would happen if the rains fail Chennai again, the
source said then the city will again go in for contingency plan to
weather the summer.
Last year, it was the south west monsoon which saved the city from
massive rainfall deficit. But this year, neither the southwest monsoon
nor the north east monsoon failed to make any impact as the catchment
areas received less rainfall.
Y E A Raj, deputy director general of meteorology, regional
meteorological center (RMC), Chennai told Express that while Chennai
city is nearer to realizing the full quota of monsoon, the catchment
areas which lie in Thiruvallur and near south Andhra Pradesh received
13 per cent less rainfall. This doesn’t augur that well for the city.
Interestingly, the monsoon has failed to make an impact in Vellore,
Tiruvanamalai and Ariyalur districts also, says Raj.
Although, Raj predicts rains in the next three to four days, it is
still unclear whether Chennai will benefit from it. “We expect
rainfall activity in next four to five days. The coastal districts,
like Thoothkudi which already received 100 cm more rainfall, would
benefit but I am not sure how much will Chennai benefit from the
possible rainfall in the next four to five days. The city already is
nearing its full quota of rainfall,” the weatherman predicted.
Interestingly, the blame for failure of reservoirs brimming with water
also lies in the failure of authorities to monitor as well as to free
the catchment areas from encroachments. It is learnt that illegal
layouts are mushrooming in the catchment areas of Red Hills and Puzhal
lake. A source said that these layouts are being sanctioned by local
bodies. “Even though several fake layouts have surfaced during a
routine check by CMDA but officials tend to sleep over it rather take
any action. It is time the High Court asks Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority or Chennai Corporation to take a survey of all
the catchment areas and find out how it was being encroached and
punish the officials. This will help in someway realizing water
security of the city,” he said.
Factfile:
--- Development regulations of Second Master plan state that Red Hills
and Puzhalal lake are main
sources of water supply to the city
----- To protect this water source from the negating fact of urban
development, contiguous areas in the catchments of these lakes has
been declared as catchment area restricted for development
----- There are 27 villages covered along the catchment area and these
should not be developed
---- 70 per cent of the villages have been developed along the
catchment areas not only for residential
but also industrial purposes
---- Most of the residential layouts in catchments areas as well as
wetlands is due to the approval of panchayats
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