CHENNAI: The newly built check dam across the Palar is brimming with water along a stretch of four km on the upstream side. Thanks to the three-day spell of rains in the last week of October, not only has the groundwater level improved, but the salinity in and around villages along the Palar River bed has also reduced.
Built at an estimated cost of Rs 32.50 crore, the check dam, which will augment the groundwater supply for the agricultural fields around and enhance water supply to various drinking water schemes, has been completed before schedule. The target was to complete it by March 31, 2020.
The work was completed ahead of the envisaged schedule to store floodwater in the current season itself, a DAE spokesperson said. A memorandum of understanding has been entered between General Services Organisation of DAE and Water Resources Department of State PWD. The project is funded by DAE.
The check dam, a long-pending demand of residents of Kanchipuram district for nearly three decades is different from the conventional check dam and will rejuvenate aquifers on either side of the river beds. The Department of Atomic Energy, Water Resources Department of State PWD, District Administration and IIT-M have technically and administratively finalised the alignment near Voyalur-Kadalur villages for the construction of check dam with sub-surface for harnessing floodwater after detailed study and analysis.
According to the Department of Atomic Energy, the innovative design of this work was vetted and approved by IIT-M since the conventional check dam design would not serve the purpose due to its proximity to the sea and backwaters.
The check dam is 1,200 metres long with a height of 1.50 metre and a sub-surface dyke to a depth of eight metres or up to impervious clay layer below the body wall along with downstream side apron glacier of seven metre length.