Smart City: Kovai’s 7 historic lakes revived

COIMBATORE: The gigantic Periyakulam Lake spread over 300 acres in the heart of Coimbatore was reeked of filth and encroached upon till a few years ago, but now it shimmers in the sun and has become a major recreational space in the historic city.

This transformation has been brought through a smart city project to revive and rejuvenate seven of the city’s centuries-old lakes which were historically used as part of the irrigation system.

Coimbatore’s Municipal Comissioner M Prathap, who is also the CEO of Coimbatore Smart City, on Friday gave a PowerPoint presentation on the various projects being undertaken under the initiative for which the city was selected in 2016, at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) here.

Prathap said Rs 350 crore has been spent on revival project. “Since the revival of these lakes, built during the Cholas rule, the lakefront as well as the main lakes have become a hub of recreational activities,” he said.

Baskar Srinivasan, General Manager, Coimbatore Smart City, says the rejuvenation of the lakes in river Noyyal basin, has also attracted migratory birds. “These water bodies were built by the Chola kings in the 8th century, and Periyakulam Lake is part of the cascading system of 30 lakes, used for irrigation in ancient times,” he said.

The other six lakes taken up under the Smart City project are -- Krishnampathy Lake, Selvampathy Lake, Kumaraswamy Lake, Selvachinthamani Lake, Valankulam Lake and Kurichikulam Lake. The other two lakes in the city -- Singanallur Lake and Narasampathy Lake -- have not been touched so far due to their better condition and biodiversity, Srinivasan said.

He explains that the old interconnected system of lakes, their canals and rivulets with the river Noyyal formed an active flood buffer -- festooning the course of the river to contain and channelise the fury of the monsoon -- as well as also aided in the recharge of groundwater.