The Hindu 31.07.2009
Cleaning of key canal in city begins
Special Correspondent
| It will go on for another five days; Collector inspects the work |
Photo: S. Siva Saravanan 
MASSIVE TASK: Garbage, stones and silt being removed from a canal that links the Big Tank at Ukkadam with Valankulam. —
COIMBATORE: The cleaning of a key canal at Ukkadam in the city is on, in order to ensure that surplus water flows from the Big Tank to the Valankulam. These two tanks are among the eight that enable the ground water level to remain high, provided enough rainwater flows into these.
The nearly 1,000 ft canal is being rid of garbage and silt that have cut off flow from the Big Tank to the Valankulam. The cleaning is being done after complaints about a couple of weeks ago that surplus water from River Noyyal was not reaching the Valankulam.
Anguished
Siruthuli, a people’s movement for the conservation of water resources, was anguished over dry patches on the vast Valankulam despite heavy flow in the river.
Collector P. Umanath carried out an inspection of the tanks and canals along with the officials of the Public Works Department and the Coimbatore Corporation. The choked canal was identified as the main culprit and various options were examined to remove the garbage.
A Corporation engineer said on Thursday that work to clean the canal was on over the last four days. It would go on for another five days as a huge amount of garbage, plastics waste, glass bottles, stones and mud had to be removed.
Earth mover
The engineer said 40 workers of the Corporation and an earth mover were engaged in clearing the blocks. The canal was three-and-a-half feet wide and more than 15 ft deep.
The workers were manually removing the waste in the canal and wherever there was space for it, the earthmover was removing garbage, mud and stones.
One of the suggestions made during the inspection was that water cannon could be used to flush out the waste if the space was too narrow for workers to get in.
The engineer said whatever could be removed with the help of the workers would be done now. The flushing could be done after this. But, he was confident that the force of the water flowing from the Big Tank would remove the remaining small blocks.
