Citizen Connect: Linking sewage lines to SWD will lead to flooding: Residents

CHENNAI: As a fast-growing metropolis with infrastructural developments happening in almost every neighbourhood, Chennai should be a dream city for most denizens to live. But the fact is that there are still areas that don’t have basic amenities such as underground sewage connections.

Case in point is Iyyappanthangal. It has lakhs of residents but an acute lack of underground drainage has driven a few to take drastic measures that could have serious consequences in the future.

Residents of VGN Nagar, fed-up of asking the civic authorities and their apathetic response, implemented a solution. They connected the existing storm water drains (SWD) to their sewage pipelines to prevent sewage overflow on the road.

Questioning the legality of the decision, residents of other areas stated that the pipelines were buried under the newly-laid cement concrete road in the area.

“This has been done to facilitate residents to let out their sewage/grey water into existing SWD, which is actually meant only for rain water. This provision would lead to stagnation of sewage water mixed with rain water, thereby blocking free flow of excess rain water during times of heavy rain,” explained Senthil Kumar, a resident of Iyyappanthangal.

Since residents don’t have sewage connections, the stagnated drainage water would stink up the neighbourhood, and also become ground for mosquito breeding, causing various health hazards.

“We urged the local body to take action as per law to prevent this. To ensure sewage does not stagnate on the road, the local body has arranged to collect it from residential areas. The illegal pipeline connection to the SWD will lead to other issues during the monsoon. The panchayat authorities should take immediate steps to avoid such issues in the future,” pointed out Lokesh, a resident of VGN nagar.

Officials from Iyyappanthangal village panchayat did not respond to repeated calls by DT Next.