Clean-up of Chennai rivers to begin, Rs 300cr allotted

CHENNAI: The
long anticipated cleaning of waterways in the city may begin soon. Chief
minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced the
allocation of Rs 300 crore for effluent treatment and other related works that
would be carried out to check pollution of key water bodies across the city.
The work mainly involves plugging the sewage outlets and strengthening the
city’s sewage network.

 The amount will
be spent for sewage and effluent treatment activities on 337 locations in Cooum
and Adyar rivers and Buckingham canal, an official release said. “We have
identified 105 outfalls in Cooum river, 49 in Adyar river and 183 in Buckingham canal,”
said a metro water official.

 The initial
allotment of 150 crore would be given to the Chennai Metro Water Supply and
Sewage Board in installments for laying pipes and setting up and upgrading
pumping stations, Jayalalithaa said. Metrowater officials were optimistic and said
they expected to finish the work in 18 months.

 “The key
work would be to upgrade old sewage lines that were built during the British
era,” said the official.

 “Many
sewage pipelines are too narrow to cope with the current load and so leak into
the storm water drain network, which in turn is connected to the river bodies.
Besides, the British administration had themselves connected many manholes
directly to river outlets to cope with system overload. All these will have to
be changed,” he said.

  “Pump
stations too are old and need to be revamped,” he said. “Once we plug
the outlets, we need better pumping facilities to prevent system
overload.” Once the stations are revamped, sewage lines will be enlarged
from six inches to nine inches. “This will reduce leakage into storm water
drains. We will also plug the link areas and the direct lines to the water
bodies. Upgrading the pumping stations and the main lines will take nine
months.”

In low-lying
areas, where the flow of sewage is not normal, Metrowater plans to set up new
pumping stations. “We have been working on this for a year and already
identified lands to set the stations up,” he said.