Convert popular temple tanks in Chennai to percolation ponds to quench city’s thirst

Chennai:

As water bodies are perishing to sustain urban development, an expert
has urged for the need to convert 38 popular temple tanks as
percolation pond to quench the thirst of the city.

Delivering a talk on Water and Sustainable Development, Prof M
Karmegam, former director of Centre for Water Resources, College of
Engineering Anna University, said that due to massive construction the
recharge of water is not happening and there is a need to think of
artificial recharge of water.

He suggested that the government should think of converting the 38
popular temple tanks, including the Kapaleshwar tank, into percolation
ponds, a multipurpose conservation structure for recharging the
groundwater.

Ruing the shrinking of Velachery tank from 500 acres to 50 acres, he
said that there is a need to protect the waterspread area of tanks. He
said if they wanted to use the huge area for urban development, they
should convert the huge water body to percolation ponds.

“But then encroachment on the water-spread area should be stopped,” he said.

Karmegam said that 25 per cent of Ambattur tank has been converted
into plots by state housing board and 13 per encroached by people.

He said the northern part of the tank has clay surface while the
southern side has sandy layer. “If it is being converted into a
percolation pond, the entire Ambattur municipality’s thirst could be
quenched,” he added.

He also expressed concern that Public works Department is slow in
interlinking of rivers in Tamil Nadu.

“We get very less rainfall and can be compared with Rajasthan. There
is a urgent need to interlink the canals or tanks through rivers,” he
said.