Around 23,400 houses in and around Ambattur will be provided with underground sewer connections by this year, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has told the National Green Tribunal.
The sewerage work, taken up under the state government’s Ilamthorum Inaippu scheme, aims at stopping release of domestic sewage waste into Korattur lake.
The lake, which has shrunk to half its original size, is contaminated as residents and industries released sewage and industrial waste into the water body’s connecting channels.
In 2016, Korattur People’s Welfare & Awareness Trust, a residents’ group, filed a case with the NGT southern zone. The tribunal directed various state agencies, associated with this case, to act against polluters and find a permanent solution to this problem.
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Public Works Department removed encroachments near the lake and connecting water channels. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is trying to regulate industrial waste management and CMSWWB was given the task of stopping sewage inflow, the NGT was informed.
The board identified that 62,600 houses need sewer connections. Though 2021 was set as the deadline, work got delayed due to the pandemic and elections. Now, work has resumed, and connections were provided to around 5,000 houses recently.
CMWSSB told the tribunal that work is in progress at 23,400 houses and in addition to this, another 1,400 houses in the area will get connections once the line construction work is completed. The CMWSSB is currently laying pipes (for a length of 7.7 km) in Ambattur area. In the remaining areas, the project is in fund-approval or Detailed Project Report (DPR) stage.
Once these houses get the sewer connections, the sewage generated in GCC wards 79 to 83 will reach a sewage treatment plant at Kodungaiyur. This STP can handle up to 270 million litres of sewage per day.
