PWD Chennai starts restoration efforts at Perungalathur lake

CHENNAI: The condition of the two lakes on the peripheries of the Chennai at Peerkankaranai and Perungalathur are deteriorating. The lake which was earlier spread across 370 acres has now reduced to 54 acres and the other one has immensely suffered due to the widening of National Highway-45, say researchers.
About 20 years ago, a lake was the source for hundreds of neighbourhood families with a land area of 100 acres.But now three wards have developed around the lake and its periphery has become the dumping ground for them.
Now, the Public Work Department (PWD) has started the restoration of the Perungalathur lake through city-based biodiversity organization CareEarth.CareEarth co-founder Jayashree Vencatesan said, “Encroachments, open defecation, discharge of untreated domestic sewage, disposal of solid waste along its periphery and the unchecked growth of invasive species Prosopis juliflora (seemai karuvelam) and water hyacinth are the major threats.”
Recovering areas diverted to non-wetland use, desilting in patches, clearing of channels, repair and maintenance of banks, weirs and other structures are to be done to maintain the wetland and maximise its efficiency, she said.
As a restoration effort, CareEarth has started strengthening the periphery of the bund by consolidating the mud dredged in patches from the wetland and reconstruction of surplus weir and desilting and dredging the available wetland would also be taken up as part of the restoration.
CareEarth technical consultant S Rangarajan said, the restoration began on July 12 and 150 tractor loads of garbage had been removed. “It will take at least another 15 days to remove all the garbage,” he said. A resident of the area had raised a wall blocking the bund and raised banana and coconut trees on half an acre of the lake. PWD officials have ordered the encroachment cleared and the compound wall was broken, said Rangarajan.
A sample test conducted by CareEarth shows that water in the lake is contaminated but local residents accumulate nearly 100 kg of fish a day. Tilapia, spotfin barb, stinging catfish, catla, orange chromide, striped snakehead, climbing perch and featherfin fish are some of the species in the lake which attracts more than 16 species of birds.