Absence of sewer lines turns water bodies into Cooums

Chennai: Apart from the intervention of residents, non-involvement of the government departments in speeding up the civic infrastructure works acts as the root cause behind the growing pollution in city’s water bodies.

Besides solid waste, it is the sewage linked to the water bodies — due to non-commencement / delay of Under Ground drainage (UGD) facility — that is turning the city lakes into Cooums. The plight of the residents is worse as they depend on septic tanks in the city, that boasts of better civic management.
Even after completing the sewer line works at Korattur four years ago, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has failed to give the connections to the locality, citing technical reasons.

Residents of the locality, falling under Zone seven of Greater Chennai Corporation, rely on septic tanks. “It is the sufferance of more than 12,000 families at Saradha Nagar, Elliyamman Nagar and Srinivasapuram who face a tough situation during rains. Private lorries carrying sewage often eject the load in the lake,” said Velu Murugan, a resident.

While assuring to issue the connection in less than a month, Metro Water Engineer of Ward 83 attributed the delay to the technicalities, related to Korattur subway construction. “However, localities near the subway have to wait till the subway works get completed for the sewer connection,” he told Deccan Chronicle.

A similar situation of an unlimited destruction of a water body can be witnessed at Sembakkam. Even though a proposal of bringing UGD lines consented five years ago, it hit a rock bottom due to political reasons.

“Funds of Rs 60 crores sanctioned by the World Bank were returned after the change in government,” informed a former Councillor here. Narrating the sorry state of Sembakkam Lake, P.Santhanam of Secretary of Venugopal Swamy Nagar extension said, “A major portion of residents in apartments here diverts their sewer waste to water bodies through stormwater drains.

“As the Biological Oxygen demand (BOD) at Sembakkam Lake is very high, there is no scope for a life in the water body, which once havened thousands of migrant birds,” Santhanam mentioned.