Raw sewage flows freely into Puzhal lake

CHENNAI : The Puzhal lake may be one of the four important drinking water sources for the city, but officials have not stopped the flow of raw sewage into the lake despite repeated complaints lodged by the local residents.  The crux of the problem lies in the failure of building an underground sewage network for residential areas around the lake, and hence sewage is released into the storm-water drains that flow into the lake.

Residents living within 1.5-km radius from the lake are the most affected and the most worried as their prime source of drinking water is being contaminated with raw sewage every day. “Sewage water mixed with rain water stagnates on the road to the height of half-a-foot and enters our compounds too,” said Praveen Kumar, a resident of Venkatachalam Nagar in Puzhal area. As a majority of houses located in and around the lake such as parts of Ambattur, Thirumullaivoyal and Puzhal are not connected to the underground sewage system (UGSS), raw sewage from households drains into open canals that empty into the lake, which holds 907 mcft of water (as on Friday). Due to this, storm water drains, which are rarely desilted, are clogged with sediments and plastics, resulting in flooding during rains.

Activists from Arappor Iyakkam, a citizens’ group, which conducted a waterbody audit last year, found that less than 100 households were given an underground sewage connection by the Metro Water Board. Even after a year’s time, this number has not increased, said Ramalingam, a member of the NGO. “Metro Water officials said that by March 2018, online application system to get a new sewer connections will be set up. But even after six months, this process doesn’t work. We requested them to set up a new office in Ambattur as it was not possible to travel to the Chinthadripet office every time. This request was also ignored,” he said.

On the other hand, residents of multi-storeyed apartment complexes refuse to get this sewage connection as they need to pay a large amount as industrial development charges, say activists. Metro Water officials said that once the underground sewage system work is fully completed by September, sewage will not be let into waterbodies. “Only if residents also are forthcoming to the idea of getting a new sewer connection, can such problems be solved,” said the official. (Full story online)