Residents of Alwarpuram were in for a shock as they saw water in dark black colour gushing into the Vaigai river on Monday afternoon.
S. Sekhar, a resident of Alwarpuram for nearly 50 years, says that this is among the few times he saw black water in huge quantity gushing into the river. “After the spell in the evening, it can be observed that water has reached the platform built for Lord Kallalagar during the Chithirai festival. It is mostly coming from the Panthalkudi channel. The stench is intolerable,” he said.
The resident added that though many houses have underground drainage connections, others often connect their septic tanks to their nearest channels or storm water drains. “This could be one of the major causes of the black water. The sewage water flows into the storm water drains and not to the sewage pumping station,” said L. Balamurugan, an auto-rickshaw driver. He added that he could see garbage, thermocol and tree branches blocking some inlet channels.
Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar said that excess water from Sellur tank was flowing through the Panthalkudi channel into Vaigai river. This was the cause of the overflowing water, he said.
A corporation engineer said desilting work was taking place in many waterbodies and since officials were removing blocks, it may appear black. Sewage is not flowing into the river,” he said.
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