CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has spent crores of rupees over the years to clean up the Cooum. Now, in the name of restoring it, the Chennai Metro Water has laid sewer lines over the river, risking further pollution of the Cooum through possible leakages.
The Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board has been implementing several projects as part of the Cooum river eco-restoration project. This includes 10 Interception & Diversion (I&D) systems along the river and three modular Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Chetpet, College Road, and Maduravoyal, all under various stages of completion. The projects are implemented under the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust.
While laying pipelines through road cuts is an alternate option which might incur additional costs for the board, it has decided to lay the pipes which will pass a few metres above the river bed. “When there is a leakage, sewage will flow right into the river and the public may not even know.
Is this better than the river’s current condition where sewage flows into it from various sources, including stormwater drains?” asked Lakshathipathi A, a resident and civic activist at Mehta Nagar, where an I&D project is being implemented.
‘Acidic sewage on Cooum may erode pipes’
When contacted, a senior metro water official said that I&D and STPs are temporary measures to relieve the river of sewage and that their priority is to strengthen the existing sewage system. "There is no space to lay the pipelines through the roads which is why it is taken through the river. Any leakage is highly unlikely. We are carrying out several measures on priority, including identifying sewage outfalls through stormwater drains," the official said.
He added that Rs 2,371 crore have been allocated for restoring the city's waterways. Asked how maintenance works will be carried out across the river, the official said all safety precautions will be taken for staff to carry out maintenance or repair works. While officials said that leakages are unlikely, experts opined that the possibility of leakages cannot be ruled out. "First, the sewage outfalls to the river should have been plugged before laying pipes (over the river bed). If that is not done first, the Cooum is known to carry acidic sewage, which will erode the pipes and the links, resulting in leakages," said S Janakarajan, a water management expert.
According to unofficial estimates, there are around 900 sewage outfalls to the Cooum that are yet to be plugged. Other than leakages, there may be procedural violations in the implementation of the project. It is learnt that for laying the pipes on the river, a 'No Objection Certificate' has not been obtained from the Public Works Department (PWD), which is the land-owning authority. When asked why an NOC was not obtained, a PWD official said this was a combined project.
"We are all working alongside for the same project and we have had joint discussions with the Chief Secretary and also the minister recently. So a separate NOC was not obtained by Metro Water for laying pipelines," the official said. When Express contacted the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control authorities, an official said that Metro Water had not approached them for Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate for the modular STPs, as is usually the procedure.
"Usually for an STP, we issue consent to establish and operate. They had intended to set up modular STPs but they might apply for (consent) in the coming days," said an official. Along the Cooum in Arumbakkam was a slum habitation in Indira Nagar, where around 280 families were evicted in 2017 for 'encroaching' the Cooum's right of way. Taking its place now, is a pumping station.
This raises questions on why the slum residents, long-time custodians of the land, had to be evicted in the first place. Official sources said that the primary lack of focus on the larger picture of restoring the Cooum is because of the lack of coordination between departments – PWD, Metro Water, the City Corporation and their umbrella body, the CRRT. "Each government department is intent to carry out the project awarded to them and show their progress at least on paper lest they are questioned. The collective goal to restore the Cooum river is lost," the official said.