Citizens come together, form consortium to save TN waterbodies

A draft paper prepared by Prof S Janakarajan, Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), recently, highlighted the medium and long term goals to make Chennai disaster-proof. This document stressed on the importance of recognising our waterways, which are important to save the city from the floods. 

Prof Janakarajan said that acknowledgement of these waterbodies is extremely important – not only to restore them but to also reduce the fury of floods. “The government should declare that waterbodies in and above two districts as a part of an integrated watershed. We need to protect these structures at any cost. Each of these waterbodies is an ecological unit, which perform specific functions apart from providing water. The government is spending resources and energy to protect heritage buildings. But these ecological structures have more value than manmade structures. Hence, waterbodies should be declared as important as heritage and protected zealously,” said the expert. Jayaram Venkatesan, Convenor, Arappor Iyakkam, which conducted a social audit of the city’s waterways, said the problem is that the area around these waterbodies are converted into patta lands. 

“Due to severe encroachment, our waterbodies have shrunk drastically over the years. We have come up with a draft paper to not only save the waterbodies but also make Chennai flood-resilient. The first step is for the government to recognise these waterbodies in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram and any violation should be dealt with strongly. The data of the length and depth of the waterbodies should be published. If this is not done, our rivers and lakes will not be saved,” he said, adding that extensive research and studies will be done on this. Jayaram also added that the problem is underreporting data. 

“Consider the problem of sewage, which is often let into the waterbodies. Government data says that Chennai generates 580 million litres per day but this is seriously underquoted. A city like Delhi generates 3,000 million litres per day. So, I am sure Chennai must be generating anywhere between 1,000-2,000 million litres of sewage, which ends up in our rivers and lakes. Unless the government acknowledges that there is a problem, the solutions cannot be implemented. In addition to all this, there is also a need to preserve our ecological hotspots like Pallikaranai marsh, which have been instrumental in keeping the city safe from floods,” he explained. 

Thomas Franco, General Secretary of State Bank of India Officers Association, which runs ‘Namma Chennai’, a forum to restore the city, said that waterbodies should be considered as common property. “Today, many of our waterbodies are encroached as debris is dumped into it and later, converted into a plot. There is a need to view waterbodies as common property, which should not be converted for any other purpose. This is the same problem for Pallikaranai marshland, which has so many constructions regularised by the government. This should stop immediately,” he concluded.