CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu forest department is planning to boost the groundwater levels in areas surrounding the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest using a combination of natural and artificial methods. This comes at a time when the private water tankers are overexploiting the groundwater in the southern suburbs of the city
Forest officials told Express that a fresh proposal has been sent to the state government to allow replacing of the 24-hectares of eucalyptus trees which dot the 320-hectare reserve forest, the city's second biggest reserve forest located amidst its southern suburbs. The eucalyptus trees have a reputation for depleting the groundwater since a single eucalyptus tree is known to consume as much as 90 litres of water every day. The trees send roots to about a depth of 30 feet.
“Eucalyptus trees were planted in the 1970s to cater to the increasing industrial demand following a policy decision then. We have now requested the State government to replace them with native species such as Jamun, Banyan, Mahua and Badam trees which don’t consume much water,” said C Vidhyapathi, Tambaram Forest Range Officer. He said the eucalyptus trees would be given to the Tamil Nadu Papers Limited, if the proposal is accepted.
It is learnt that in this year alone over 6,800 native species trees have been planted in the forest, replacing the eucalyptus trees which were uprooted by Cyclone Vardah in 2016.
Supplementing this plan to repopulate the forest with native species, the forest department has proposed to establish check dams in various parts of the forest and increase the number of percolation ponds. These are aimed to prevent surface runoff of the rainwater.
“These check dams will prevent the water from draining into the Pallikaranai Marshland and will keep the rainwater within the forest. Extra percolation ponds which will be strategically placed will enhance seeping in of the water (into the ground),” said Vidhyapathi. The reserve forest has only two percolation ponds now.
Extension of compound walls around the forest is also in the plans to further protect the wildlife. Currently, only a 3.5 km stretch along the Velachery Main Road has walls. The officials said a new 4.5 km
wall along the Medavakkam Koot Road stretch is in the pipeline.