100 lakes in Chennai, neighbouring districts to get automatic water level recorder

CHENNAI: The Water Resources Department is in the process of setting up automatic water lever recorders in 100 lakes in Chennai and surrounding three districts.

Currently, the construction of the room in which the recorder would be stored in, is going on in many lakes. After the works get completed the recorders will be installed. The recorder helps to identify the level of water as part of real-time flood-control works.

“It will be installed in 4 districts – Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur. The main benefit of this recorder is that during floods, the water level could be recorded automatically. It’s telemetric and every hour, the data would be updated. During normal situations, it would help to make decisions,” said a WRD official.

According to sources, Chitlapakkam, Poondi and Chembarambakkam will get the recorders. The last two waterbodies cater to the city’s drinking water needs.

“In the era of climate change, water management is very crucial for sustaining cities,” K Brinda, conservation scientist, Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Tiruchy. “Installation of the recorder will be helpful, as most of the time, inflow and discharge are not recorded in the case of small waterbodies. This will help the managers to ascertain the storage levels in a more credible way. If the water-level records are maintained properly for years, rainfall, catchment capacity and dry seasons can be tracked. This data will be crucial for taking up irrigation and desilting works in and around waterbodies.”