Chennai
V. Santhanam, president, Federation of Civic and Welfare Associations of Pallavaram Municipality, said that many of the lakes have shrunk severely over the years. “The Nemilichery lake in Chromepet has completely disappeared and only around 3 acres are left. Hasthinapuram lake has shrunk drastically from his original size of almost 10 acres. There is heavy encroachment in Pallavaram municipality, which is growing haphazardly,” he pointed out. The social activist added that the water supply is inadequate for a locality that has rapidly developed over the last few years.
“Water is supplied once in five days, which is insufficient for our needs. The demand is three times more than the supply. Residents have to buy water, which is expensive,” he said. Ramadoss, an advocate living in Pallavaram, said the falling groundwater level is a cause for concern. “The ground water level has gone down drastically and now, one has to dig deeper for water supply. In addition to this, the water quality too is not good.
The companies that dig bore-wells are charging atrocious amounts for this. We have to buy water for our basic needs,” said this resident of Pallavaram for more than 40 years. Sunil Jayaram, a resident of Chitalapakkam, pointed out that the waterbodies are improperly maintained. “The Chitalapakkam lake has not been de-silted for around 20 years now. The storm water drains too are not maintained and are often used to discharge solid waste. The rain water harvesting structures are lying unused. When the roads are laid, there is no provision for rainwater inlets. Even when it rains, there is no way to save rainwater to recharge the groundwater levels. This adds to the water problem in the area, as we have to depend on water tankers. Even then, the quality of water is not too good, which brings down the quality of our life,” he added.
Arun Krishnamurthy, Founder of Environmentalist Foundation of India, said the health impact due to the groundwater quality should be ascertained at the earliest. “Apart from the big lakes, there are many smaller water bodies. But the problem is that there is municipal solid waste dumped in these water sources.
Due to this, the groundwater has been poisoned. The quality of groundwater and its impact on the health of the residents should be probed. This is purely a manmade problem, due to unplanned growth of the locality and lack of urban planning,” said this environmentalist. Presenting a different picture an official from the Pallavaram Municipality said, “Every day, 55 lakh litres of water from the Palar river and 25 lakh litres from Metro Water are being released.
This is sufficient to fulfil the requirements of the municipality. Due to the Kancheepuram road work, the Metro Water pipe was broken and water supply was interrupted in some wards. But other than that, water supply has been regular.”
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