GCC creates 4 ponds at Madras Race Club to store rainwater

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has started the construction of a chain of ponds at the Madras Race Club to store excess rainwater and prevent inundation.

The process is being carried out with each pond having a storage capacity of 30,000 cubic metres adding up to 1,20,000 cubic metres thereby achieving a total capacity of 1.5 lakh cubic metres (almost 6 times the existing capacity).

The Madras Race Club (MRC) is a huge catchment of around 160 acres, the runoff water is collected in a system of three ponds with a capacity around 32,000 cubic metres. The surplus runoff water flows out of the campus to various roads like Five Furlong Road, Interior Race Course Road, Velachery Main Road, etc.

In 2023, the MRC constructed a storm water drain (SWD) from the connected pond system towards Five Furlong Road illegally connecting it with the SWD in Five Furlong Road, which drains to the canal at Raj Bhavan, which further drains to Velachery lake. A fine amount of Rs 1 lakh was imposed on them and the drain was blocked as well.

“Due to channelised flow from the pond, water came to Five Furlong Road quickly and inundated Guindy and Five Furlong Road for hours. Later, the Corporation had urged them to create additional storage facilities to store excess rainwater. However, they failed to do that despite multiple warnings. During the last monsoon season, the situation worsened. Now that the State government has retrieved the land, we’ve planned to create four ponds to store excess rainwater and prevent flooding,” elaborated GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran.

The work for each pond may take a minimum of 10-15 days. The first pond is set to be functional in next 10 days and the rest will be taken up serially.