Editorial: Staying afloat, six years later

The waterlogging in several parts of Chennai was reminiscent of scenes from 2015 when Chennai bore the brunt of a nightmarish deluge.

For residents of this metropolis, few things have changed for the better over the past six years, when it comes to the state of preparedness to deal with deluges of such magnitude. Amidst the heaviest rain Chennai experienced since 2015, citizens wondered if our stormwater drains were capable of absorbing the shock of such downpours. More importantly, why do we have to go through the same rituals of deploying motor pumps to drain out the water from neighbourhoods, and engage rescue boats year after year?

A few numbers could help illustrate the problem. Take, for instance, arterial roads like GST Road, Velachery-Tambaram Road, Poonamallee High Road, and Thoraipakkam Radial Road. These are stretches along which stormwater drains had been recently laid. As per officials, these drains served little to no purpose on Sunday, as the areas adjoining these roads were waterlogged to various degrees. The dysfunction is even more troubling when one considers the investment fuelled by the exchequer that goes into such projects. The Highways Department has coughed up an amount of Rs 212 crore to fund flood prevention work, stormwater drains as well as culverts. The department is tasked with maintaining a 303 km drain network as well as about 1,041 bridges and culverts. How did such an expansive infrastructure fail to arrest the deluge? The disconnect between cause and effect is visible in the claims of the Corporation too. As per the civic body, desilting and repair work had been completed in 88 per cent of stormwater drains within the Corporation’s limits. The city’s stormwater drain network is 697 km long, of which 620 km of drains had been desilted. Amphibian vehicles were pressed into action to desilt and excavate 30 canals within Corporation limits.

It might be unfair to place the onus of the deluge on the Corporation. But it may be noted that such environmental disasters are the results of the cumulative neglect and exploitation heaped upon our natural resources from time immemorial. The depletion of water bodies like lakes, and the encroachment over poromboke lands have been responsible to a large degree for waterlogging during floods. As per a report from 2018, the area of water bodies in Chennai city and its suburbs has shrivelled from 12.6 sq km (with 60 large water bodies) in 1893 to just about 3.2 sq km (with 28 large and small water bodies) in 2017. Rapid unplanned urbanisation has caused such dips in water bodies, which act as sponges and aid in mitigating deluges. The vanishing of water bodies and open spaces has also led to a dip in the recharge potential of groundwater. Experts believe the deluge in 2015 was a man-made disaster that arose from mismanagement of lakes and neglecting the protection of linking channels. In the backdrop of adverse weather events attributed to climate change, Chennai has a tall order on its hands.

Stakeholders suggested the Corporation reassess its Open Space Reservation policy (regarding land or water bodies on which development is indefinitely set aside). In the long term, the demarcation of Chennai’s city limits must be reconsidered, with a proper gauge of how much commercial development a region can accommodate. Demarcation of groundwater protection zones, constructing check dams, and subsurface storage tanks will also help arrest deluges. At an hour such as this, political posturing, and disbursal of relief and solatium alone might not be the panacea. The deluge is an impact of long-term decisions, and it will need solutions that are also long-term in nature.