Ponds vital, SWDs alone cant tackle flood: GCC
CHENNAI: With the public raising questions on the reliance of pumps to clear water stagnation even after constructing stormwater drains (SWDs) by spending thousands of crores across the city, a senior Greater Chennai Corporation official on Friday emphasised that SWDs are just one among the many solutions, and are not the only way to prevent inundation. Speaking to reporters, GCC deputy commissioner (Works) V Sivakrishnamurthy said with more than 60 to 65% of the city lying below the sea level, SWDs alone cannot tackle the situation. That is why the civic body is also focussing on canal desilting and upgrades, and creation and rejuvenation of ponds, he said. On the deployment of 1,446 pumps across the city with many being high capacity of 100 HP, he said they were brought in only as an additional measure to drain out water. He said with Chennai receiving three phases of rains so far this year, a total of 243 spots faced stagnation, and only in 61 spots it persisted even after the rains. However, even in those spots inundation was cleared within two to three hours, he contended. He said GCCs interventions are yielding better results since 87 locations faced such inundation last year. Out of 246 ponds across the city, for the past four years, the city corporation worked on 231 ponds, which are mostly upgraded and created. This year alone, 31 new ponds were dug and 47 ponds rejuvenated. In addition, last year, bonly 32 sponge parks existed, it has now been increased to 108 parks within eight to nine months, he said. As a result, the earlier water holding capacity of 1.05TMC via ponds has been increased to 1.1TMC, which is a difference of around 1.42 billion litres.
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