One of the Reason behind Chennai Floods - Adyar & Cooum (Video made in July 2015)

Once Madras had three major waterways including, the Adyar river, Cooum River and the man-made Buckingham canal. Present day Chennai use these natural gifts to dump sewage. So far the government has identified 337 sewage outfalls within the city limits which pollute these rivers and canal. Have you ever seen a storm water canal in your locality? It runs underground and also over the ground. Have a look; you would notice the outfalls of sewage into the storm water canal. And these storm water canals are connected with Adyar, Cooum & Buckingham Canal and hence polluting these wonderful rivers of Chennai. If you couldn’t find it in your locality; make a visit to the inner circle road from Nanganallur to velachery. You could definitely find the storm water canal with sewage outfalls TN government allocated 150 crore for the process of plugging 179 sewage outfalls by 2016. 51 outfalls have already been plugged. But the problem is Government wouldn’t be able to achieve this as planned, because, new outfalls are created by public while government is spending money on closing the available outfalls. The Government is also spending money and cleaning the sewage before it gets into the sea water, as it is dangerous for marine life and according to international norms the sewage should be cleaned before it enters the ocean. Would it be possible to clean it up to the standard? No, if water is getting more and more polluted…it would get harder to treat it…. Next time when you go for a walk in the beach….while the waves eases your foot ….actually you are also getting in touch with the sewage. Marina Beach has Cooum and Besant Nagar Beach has Adyar to do the work. The rivers are getting more and more polluted. Currently, we must close our nose or not to breathe while crossing those rivers but it once was a fresh water river. Mostly Solid wastes stop the water flow and most of it gets stagnated within the city. Having a open sewage running across the major areas of City doesn’t stop there, Pollution also causes serious health issues such as malaria, dengue and Filariasis .and water contamination which cholera, typhoid and hepatitis throughout the year. Also air pollution causes asthma and other respiratory diseases in nearby residents…. City is growing….new apartments are built on everyday basis…. According to Government norms, apartments should have a Sewage treatment Plant to treat their sewage and to reuse the recycled water. In most part of the city… this is not happening, somehouseholds and enterprises have illegal connections to the storm water drainage system rather than the underground sewage drainage system, resulting in the improper disposal of sewage & effluent. Under river restoration project, Government looking to do: • Plug off 337 man made outfalls • Construct a baby canal next to Cooum and send only treated water into the canal which will be connected to Bay of Bengal…. • Build 24 new parks, 22 new walkways on sides of the rivers to clear slums…. Do you think all these are possible and achieved as planned? Never….Because… We are the one who made those outfalls….we put solid wastes into those rivers….. So what could we do about this rather than closing the Nose or accusing the Government for their inability or corruption? I believe in People ….We could do something……..We could ask our apartment managements, industry managements, in the work place, in universities and hospitals….about how they doing the sewage management…..before buying an apartment, ask builder about sewage system…You have all rights to ask…..get aware…..if possible, raise your voice to correct the issue…..at least in the place you live…. If we have problem in our locality, we need to solve it together as a city, for the City...So we should start raise our voice to eradicate those who have been failing our city !!! Share this Video for our Environment.