Unmaintained lakes cause water scarcity, locals blame PWD

CHENNAI: The residents of the southern suburbs of Chennai fear there could be water scarcity this summer, as the lakes in their area have not been cleaned for more than a decade by the Public Works Department.

The Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai villages come under the Tambaram corporation. Many lakes and ponds in these villages fall under the same civic body. The Perungalathur lake was originally 140 acres; currently, it is 73 acres. Peerkankaranai lake was 163 acres and has now decreased to 83 acres. These lakes are filled with water hyacinths and are completely unusable due to pollution, as the Tambaram corporation and PWD have not maintained them over the last few years.

The groundwater level in Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai has decreased due to the hot weather, and the wells have dried in most of the houses, forcing people to buy water from outside.

“It has been over ten years since the Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai lakes were cleaned. When we tried to request the PWD official to clean the lake, it took us more than a week to meet them. They did not bother to hear our queries and were not ready to clean the lakes,” said Mahendra Boopathy, the president of the Perungalathur Welfare Association.

Being one of the important localities in the suburbs, the population of Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai is increasing day by day. With it, the need for water increases, and people suffer because of the unmaintained lakes.

Shanthi, a Peerkankaranai resident, said they witness hundreds of tanker lorries in their area every day as almost all the streets suffer from water scarcity.

A few years ago, the association decided to clean the lake on its own and started the initial work. The corporation and PWD officials stopped the work, promising that they would clean the lake but failed to keep up their promise.

This year, the activists have decided to clean their lakes ahead of monsoon season. They are awaiting the authorities’ permission to clean and desilt Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai water bodies. A PWD official said, “Both Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai lakes have encroachments. We are planning to remove the encroachments with the help of the Revenue Department, and then we will start the desilting process.” The official exuded confidence that the lakes would be desilted before the monsoon season.