Drinking water source for Chennai’s southern

Kanchepuram: line-up of lorries laden with sand quarried from the Palar riverbed at Sirupinayur near Pazhayaseevaram on the Chengalpattu-Kancheepuram Road.The sand quarry set up on the Palar riverbed at Sirupinaiyur on the Chengalpattu-Kancheepuram road is all set to endanger the drinking water source available for the civic bodies on the southern outskirts of Chennai. Thousands of sand-laden lorries have been moved out from this quarry, which was opened recently.

Enquiries reveal that fine sand deposit was noticed in this area thanks to diversion of floodwater into the Cheyyar river from the Thamaraipakkam anaicut in Vellore district in 2005. The Cheyyar, branching off from the Palar at Thamaraipakkam, rejoins the Palar at Thirumukkudal just a km to the west of Sirupinaiyur.

Pointing out that the sand quarry at Sirupinaiyur would definitely affect groundwater flow into the pumping station, installed at the Palar at Pazhayaseevaram just opposite to the quarry to supply drinking water to Pallavaram and other civic bodies, the sources said the Kancheepuram Municipality had already fallen a victim to an indiscriminate quarrying witnessed on the Palar in the Vippedu and Kolivakkam areas near the town.

The first sign of water scarcity was witnessed in the middle of last month when the groundwater level at the Thiruparkadal and at Orrikai pumping stations went below the required level for maintaining daily supply to the town, owing to a diversion of floodwater into the Cheyyar from the Thamaraipakkam anaicut in 2005, they said.

The problem got compounded with a sudden ‘development’ of cracks and leaks in the supply lines from deep borewells sunk on the riverbed to the Orrikai pumping station and in the main supply line from Thiruparkadal to the Vegavathi pumping station.Consequently, water supply to certain parts of the town were disturbed for three to four days and the supply was restored after rectification of the ‘defects,’ undertaken under the personal supervision of chairman V. Rajendran.

But the situation turned worse 10 days ago after the civic body decided to restrict the duration of water supply to 60 minutes which had forced the people to scout for water sources such as public taps or roadside borewells sunk by the municipality.In the meantime, sudden and sharp showers, which lashed the town, have brought some hope to the people. While the people pin their hopes on the nature, political parties are trying to put the blame on each other.

Some political parties said the decision to divert floodwater from the Thamaraipakkam anaicut to the Cheyyar river in 2005 was the root-cause for the problem. On the other hand, another party attributed the current problem to the indiscriminate and intensive quarrying of sand from the Palar in the recent past.