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In Chennai, now 11 out of 24 monitoring wells has gone dry

Posted on: 20/Jun/2019 10:18:15 AM
Recently a report from non profit organization has shown that 11 out of 24 monitoring wells in Chennai have become dry in this June month. This has now reflected Chennai citys poor groundwater situation. In 2016 and in 2017, just one well had gone dry is known.

It was pointed out by Mr. Shekar Raghavan of Rain Centre that a grid of 1 sqkm was created in Chennai city and wells were identified and monitored every month. Point is Rain Centre presently monitors as many as 88 wells chosen randomly and grouped into 24 clusters depending on the location.

According to some activists, the current situation is the result of water managers in Chennai city. It should be noted that these water managers had ample groundwater water ever since rainwater harvesting structures or RWH structures were made compulsory in the year 2005. According to the officials belonging to the metro water department it is clear that there are more than 8 lakh RWH structures in the Chennai city. The activists were not satisfied with this figure regarding the number of RWH structures in the Chennai.

The government as well as the residents of Chennai must take the responsibility because neither had ensured maintenance of RWH structures. Mr. Sekhar Raghavan explained about how in the year 2005 good rain (2566 mm) was received and it resulted in the floods. In that situation, Chennai city forgot its RWH structures and began building storm water drains to mitigate floods. He then spoke about how the groundwater table has remained stable till now.

Rain Centre in the year 2017 conducted random audit and it was revealed in that audit that 30 percent of the existing structures were in bad shape and not fit for harvesting rain. Information gathered is some residents have already begun setting up of new RWH structures and carrying out the repairs of the existing ones for the summer rains as well as for the northeast monsoons. Awareness regarding RWH structures has been created for the last 7 years by various members of Exnora Greater Chennai and resident welfare organizations. It was later mentioned by a resident belonging to Ramapuram that for the sake of implementing the scheme successfully the government must join hands with activists and NGOs.

Important information collected is wells present in places like Anna Nagar A1 Block, Chetpet, Koyambedu, Choolaimedu, Parthasarathy Temple, Vadapalani, Mylapore, Ashok Nagar, Nesapakkam, Cancer Institute, Adyar have gone dry in 2019.