Residents want Nattu Kalvai, the surplus channel of Tiruneermalai lake that drains into the Adyar river to be improved, to alleviate flooding in the locality.
Like many other minor channels, Nattu Kalvai too has shrunk in size owing to urbanisation over the decades. Residents of Tiruneermalai said that areas along the channel, including Saraswathipuram and Ranga Nagar, were marooned under sheets of water during December floods last year.
Members of the Tiruneermalai Periya Eri Pathukappu Kuzhu said the nearly three-km-long channel is close to 60 feet wide near the lake’s weir and it has shrunk to 20 feet –25 feet as it passes through various residential localities. It is also heavily encroached upon in areas like Saraswathypuram Extension.
B.Saravanan, a resident of Saraswathypuram Extension, said the open canal was also an easy prey to garbage and sewage dumping from Lakshmipuram. The excess floodwater spills over to the neighbouring localities as the channel’s wall is only two feet high.
The culverts, which have insufficient capacity, in the Bypass Road near Tiruneermalai also need to be replaced to reduce flooding. The issue awaits a permanent solution since no steps were taken despite several representations and protests, he said. Residents demanded that the surplus course must be desilted and deepened, and improved as a closed canal.
Citing his research work, O.M.Murali, resident of Anakaputhur and an independent researcher said, “Peak rainfall pattern was observed in 1985, 1995-96, 2005 and 2015. We are heading towards a similar rainfall pattern between 2024-2025.” Some of the recommendations of the study, include flood protection walls in Adyar river covering Tiruneermalai and Pozhichalur and interconnecting the channels draining into the river. Besides developing green corridor along the waterways to reduce flood impact, abandoned quarries in Shankar Nagar and Pammal, must also be used to store floodwater, he said.
Officials of the Water Resources Department said a proposal has been sent to the government to improve the Tiruneermalai lake along its surplus course at a cost of ₹19 crore. This was also one of the demands made to the State government under ‘Ungal Thoguthiyil Mudhal Amaichar’. Work is in progress to clean the vulnerable stretches of the canal, ahead of the Northeast monsoon.