TIRUCHY: As part of efforts to revive and protect waterbodies in the city, the corporation is trying to trace a channel, believed to be over 40 years old, that once helped maintain the level at the teppakulam near Rockfort temple by feeding it with water from River Cauvery.
While officials pointed out that they are even approaching retired employees for leads, they said that plans are on to adopt “latest technologies” as well to locate the channel system. The teppakulam under the control of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department and maintained by the corporation currently depends on rainwater.
In the event of inadequate rainfall, the civic body supplies water to the teppakulam from a tank near Rockfort. "We would use the latest technologies to trace the old channel. If it faced encroachments, we would clear them. We would soon take an expert opinion to select the technology best suited for the project," a senior corporation official said.
Recollecting hundreds of fish in the teppakulam dying in 2021 due to a decrease in dissolved oxygen level, officials such an incident could be prevented once the inlet and outlet channels of the tank are relocated and revived. However, they added that this was not the original intention. "We have taken several steps to protect the city’s waterbodies.
For instance, we strengthened the retaining walls of Kottapattu Periyakulam near Tiruchy airport and installed pedestrian tracks around it. Similarly, we set up several recreational spots on the banks of Uyyakondan canal.
With regard to the teppakulam, we would soon set up a light and sound show there. This would make the waterbody a major attraction. We will not stop there and will take additional steps to protect it. That's why we are considering a project to locate the old channel to Teppakulam," a corporation engineer said.