CHENNAI: Even as the Public Works Department (PWD) has resumed work on constructing a retaining wall along the Keelkattalai-Narayanapuram lake surplus canal, residents say adequate measures should be in place to prevent the flow of sewage through the canal.
The surplus canal has sewage flowing in it throughout the year. While a part of the sewage comes from stormwater drains, residents of Sunnambu Kolathur allege that the canal is polluted whenever operations fail at the sewage treatment plant (STP).
“We have complained many a time that sewage is being let out through an underground pipe from the STP. The pipe was then dug out. But even now, when there is something wrong with the plant, it’s still being let out here,” says a resident of BKR Nagar.
The canal originally connected the Keelkattalai and Narayanapuram lakes, carrying surplus water from the former to the latter. However, since it carried a large quantity of sewage, the canal has been blocked at Narayanapuram lake -- a drinking water source -- and diverted instead to the Pallikaranai marsh, say locals. In addition to the sewage, they say, there are encroachments bordering the canal that hasn’t been cleared either, before the wall construction commenced.
Express contacted a PWD official who said that an exercise has been undertaken to identify sources of sewage flowing into rivers, lakes and macro drains. “The list is already made. Now, the Chief Secretary has called for submission of a comprehensive plan to deal with the sewage,” he said.
Further, officials have encountered two main challenges in constructing the Rs 17 lakh wall – poor subsurface soil conditions and cables laid by the Electricity Board. “We have officially written to the EB to shift the posts and cables to help us continue work as per schedule,” said the official.