The Hindu 21.12.2011
4 waterbodies around city to be deepened
Administrative sanction for project accorded
Four waterbodies around Chennai will be deepened at a cost of Rs.130 crore. Aimed at enhancing their capacity, the project will ensure availability of more water to the city, whose demand has increased following the merger of 42 local bodies with Chennai Corporation.
The administrative sanction for the project, which would raise the capacity by 568 million cubic feet (mcft), has been accorded, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a press release on Tuesday. This is equivalent to the quantum drawn from four reservoirs to supply 800 million litres a day to the city for nearly two weeks.
The decision follows the budget announcement in August that the State government proposed to carry out improvement works in seven waterbodies on the city fringes.
In the first phase, the waterbodies in Cholavaram, Porur, Nemam, near Thirumazhisai, and Ayanambakkam would be deepened. Work on the three other lakes – Ambattur, Korattur and Madhavaram – would be undertaken in the next phase.
The capacity of the Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarampakkam reservoirs, which are the main sources of supply for the city, is about 11,000 mcft.
For safety reasons, the storage is maintained at 10,000 mcft, officials of the Water Resources Department said.
Despite heavy rainfall over the past few months and good realisation of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh, water had to be discharged from the four reservoirs this year. Nearly 1,500 mcft – equal to 40 days drinking water supply to the city – was drained into the sea for want of storage, officials said.
While Porur lake would be deepened by two metre to increase the capacity from 46 mcft to 70 mcft, the storage of Cholavaram reservoir would be raised to 1,080 mcft from the existing 881 mcft. The capacity of the waterbody in Nemam would be doubled to 577 mcft.
Besides bund strengthening, the Ayanambakkam lake would be deepened by two metre to increase its storage from 290 mcft to 314 mcft. This would also prevent flooding in the neighbouring areas.
Repair on Chembarampakkam tank would also be taken up. The work is expected to start in March and get over in October. Once the project is completed, the water received from Veeranam tank and Kandaleru reservoir could be diverted and stored in these waterbodies, the officials said.
