CHENNAI: Not having learnt a lesson from the floods in Dec, Buckingham canal continues to be clogged with plastic waste and sewage flowing in from stormwater drains.
A bed of waste, including plastic, thermocol, rubber, and wrapper, blocks the channel for a stretch of 100 metres near Chepauk MRTS station. The original depth of the canal should be 6 feet below sea level, but due to silt and sewage piling up, it is now 3 feet above sea level.
Residents said this leads to swelling of the canal after a spell of rain.”This has ended up flooding interior areas of Triplicane and Chepauk during Cyclone Michaung. Water did not recede for nearly 12 hours after rains stopped,” said K Balamukundhan of Triplicane.
There are about five macro-storm water drain outlets into the canal from Chepauk to Triplicane.
According to a Jan 2024 study published in Aqua, a journal of water supply, research, and technology, the biological oxygen demand values (BOD) ranged from 1.2 to 2.5 mg/L, indicating the presence of organic matter consuming oxygen. The study said the analysed water samples had to be treated for consumption.
Experts said the constant inflow of sewage into the canal can further pollute groundwater. “In several areas along the B Canal, ground water is considerably polluted,” said J Saravanan, a hydrogeologist.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has neither plugged the outfalls nor fined the polluters.
Civic activist and GIS expert Dhayanand Krishnan said the civic authorities can place shutters in the drain and use sewage interceptors to divert water. “This is being successfully implemented in the Chitlapakkam Lake,” he said.
GCC officials said they plan to install CCTV cameras along the 33 waterways in the city to identify polluters. “We have plugged more than 20,000 illegal sewage outfalls in 2023, and the drive will continue,” said a corporation official.
A bed of waste, including plastic, thermocol, rubber, and wrapper, blocks the channel for a stretch of 100 metres near Chepauk MRTS station. The original depth of the canal should be 6 feet below sea level, but due to silt and sewage piling up, it is now 3 feet above sea level.
Residents said this leads to swelling of the canal after a spell of rain.”This has ended up flooding interior areas of Triplicane and Chepauk during Cyclone Michaung. Water did not recede for nearly 12 hours after rains stopped,” said K Balamukundhan of Triplicane.
There are about five macro-storm water drain outlets into the canal from Chepauk to Triplicane.
According to a Jan 2024 study published in Aqua, a journal of water supply, research, and technology, the biological oxygen demand values (BOD) ranged from 1.2 to 2.5 mg/L, indicating the presence of organic matter consuming oxygen. The study said the analysed water samples had to be treated for consumption.
Experts said the constant inflow of sewage into the canal can further pollute groundwater. “In several areas along the B Canal, ground water is considerably polluted,” said J Saravanan, a hydrogeologist.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has neither plugged the outfalls nor fined the polluters.
Civic activist and GIS expert Dhayanand Krishnan said the civic authorities can place shutters in the drain and use sewage interceptors to divert water. “This is being successfully implemented in the Chitlapakkam Lake,” he said.
GCC officials said they plan to install CCTV cameras along the 33 waterways in the city to identify polluters. “We have plugged more than 20,000 illegal sewage outfalls in 2023, and the drive will continue,” said a corporation official.