Adyar to get trash booms to collect waste

The Greater Chennai Corporation, which has teamed up with Bengaluru-based organisation AlphaMERS, has installed these barriers (or booms) in seven out of the eight proposed locations in the Cooum River. 

The booms, installed along the river near Periyar Bridge, Commander-in-Chief Road near Ethiraj College, Choolaimedu and Island Grounds, are placed at the points where the river is closest to the road, to ensure that the trash collected is removed easily. The booms have been helpful, said Corporation sources. “The booms near Napier Bridge can collect around 150 tonnes of waste but in other locations, we get an average of 50 tonnes, which is removed periodically, using a float,” said the official. 

He added, “In areas where it is difficult to reach, boats are used to remove the trash. The idea is to reduce the quantity of waste ending up in the sea. This was appreciated by the Public Works Department (PWD), which undertakes the dredging work at Napier Bridge, where the river meets the sea.”

The official also said that dredging is often affected by the garbage going into the sea but after the booms have come into place, the amount of waste has reduced.

Encouraged by the experience in Cooum river, the Corporation will soon be tendering out a project to install trash booms in three locations in Adyar river – Kasi Theatre Bridge and downstream of Marmalong Bridge and Kotturpuram Bridge – at an estimated cost of Rs 50 lakhs. “The detailed project report has been prepared and the project will soon be tendered out,” said the official. He added that the project is being undertaken in collaboration with the PWD and Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT). 

DC Sekhar, Executive Director AlphaMERS, said, “This is a lowcost technology to contain trash in water, with the booms placed at an incline so the trash is trapped in it, while the water runs below the barrier. This will collect the garbage, bringing it to the surface. Once it is visible, the public will hopefully appreciate clean water and reduce the trash that goes into the rivers.” 

Activists, however, are not convinced by this approach, terming it as “inadequate”. “If the Corporation would have focussed on implementing solid waste management rules first and then, employing this boom, it would have been fine. But the barriers, on their own, are insufficient,” said Nityanand Jayaraman.