The Deccan Chronicle 02.11.2010
350 chronic streets identifiedNov. 1: The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has identified 350 streets in the city as affected by ‘chronic’ sewage overflow and blocks. Most of these streets are in slums located in the pockets of north and south Chennai, while some are in prime localities like Mylapore and Mandaveli.
The board is undertaking a drive to solve sewage-related problems in Chennai metropolis and the streets have been identified in the last 10 days. Senior CMWSSB officials told this newspaper that the streets were identified on the basis of the number of blocks, overflow complaints received and number of sewer cleaning trucks operating there.
“More such streets would be mapped shortly,” added the officials. CMWSSB engineers feel that the number of such ‘chronically-affected’ streets could double at the end of the identification exercise.
On an average, the board receives around 18,000 complaints per month at the rate of over 600 per day. Most of the complaints are related to sewer block and overflowing manholes besides sporadic cases of short supply of drinking water. Linking of mushrooming residential complexes to the existing sewer lines has been one of the major causes of sewage overflow and blockade in the city,said officials.
Besides involving CMWSSB engineers, the board will also study project reports submitted by various consultancies in the last decade to streamline the sewer system of the rapidly growing city. The board would shortly prepare estimates for the remedial works and subsequently float tenders. The works would be taken up in early January 2011 and completed before mid February.
