After several decades, the Madurantakam lake, a large water body in Chengalpattu district, is being rejuvenated with increased water storage capacity. The water from the lake is also likely to be used to meet the needs of Chennai during the drought.
Spread over 1,058 hectares, the lake serves as a source of irrigation for an ‘ayakat’ area of 3,077 hectares, and feeds 30 tanks. However, in the past several decades no major work was done to remove the silt, as it has become heavily silted.
This led to flooding of agricultural land in nearby villages during the rainy season as the lake’s storage capacity was reduced by 24%. One of the proposals put forward by the Water Resources Department (WRD) a few years back was to deepen and increase the storage capacity of the lake. This was to address a number of issues, including the need to bridge the gap between the growing demand for water and insufficient sources, flooding and transportation of silt in low-lying areas.
Officials said about 10% of the ₹120 crore project has been completed so far. Work was in progress to repair five dams, which are structures to drain excess water from the lake, and also build a spillway, a dam-like structure that allowed flood waters to flow in a controlled manner when the lake was full. gives.
The spillway will be constructed with 12 shutters to control the release of water and prevent waterlogging of agricultural land in the foreshore area. “We plan to increase the height of the weir by 0.5 meters to improve the storage capacity of the lake. The waterbody is also being de-silted to increase the capacity from 530 million cubic feet to 791 mcft,” said an official.
Instead of carrying the dug out silt from the lake to other places, WRD is using it to build a dam in the foreshore area. It will also be used to raise the land elevation in the foreshore area, which is prone to submergence when the lake fills up. After completion of the project in two years, residents of 38 nearby villages will get better drinking water. Officials said the lake will also be used as a buffer source for Chennai and draw water during drought.