The Hindu                   17.04.2013

City’s waterways to be de-weeded

Corporation removes water hyacinth, floating garbage from rivers and
canals to combat mosquito menace; conservationists protest changes to
ecology.

Residents along the city’s waterways may soon enjoy some respite from the mosquito menace as the rivers are being cleaned up.

The
Chennai Corporation recently began removing water hyacinth and floating
garbage from the city’s waterways, including those maintained by the
Public Works Department (PWD).

Besides the major
waterways — Adyar river, Cooum river and the Buckingham canal — the
civic body is also de-weeding other canals in the city.

According
to PWD sources, it was decided to allow the civic body to remove the
vegetation in the waterways during a recent meeting on combating the
problem of mosquito breeding. As the PWD did not have sufficient funds,
the civic body was requested to take up the cleaning operation.

The
PWD removes sand bars from the river estuary regularly and desilts the
major waterways before the onset of the northeast monsoon.

While
this work has brought some relief to city residents, those living in
the merged areas, including southern Chennai, want other water courses
and lakes such as Okkiyam Maduvu and Velachery lake to be cleared of
weeds and water hyacinth. The Okkiyam Maduvu canal has not been cleaned
for over a year now, said residents of Thoraipakkam.

Kamala
Raghavan of Mettukuppam said two water bodies in the area were closed
to facilitate the laying of roads. Several localities still depended on
wells for their water needs.

“Okkiyam Maduvu has
water and helps to recharge groundwater in our locality. If the waterway
is desilted and cleaned, it will help retain the water table,” she
said.

Meanwhile, residents of Ururkuppam and some
environmentalists complained that the work had further damaged the
ecology of the estuary.

K. Saravanan of Ururkuppam said the vegetation on a riverine island, which is an important nesting habitat, was removed.

Representatives
of Save Chennai Beaches Campaign and Madras Naturalists Society said
the few islands on the river were home to mangroves in the estuary and
must not be disturbed.