In 2015 Chennai received its highest rainfall in 10 years. Barring a few core areas – mostly neighbourhoods around Mount Road – all parts of the city saw massive water-logging and flooding. According to figures from the Tamil Nadu police, about 189 people across the state have lost their lives due to the rains as of Wednesday.
What’s even more unfortunate, however, is the fact that the city’s water-logging woes are here to stay.
That Chennai’s water-logging issue is a man-made disaster can be illustrated by one single fact: The city’s largest mall, Phoenix, is on a lake-bed – Velachery.
The word ‘Ari’ (as in Velach-ari) means ‘lake’ in Tamil. And since natural lakes are meant to absorb and hold water when nature unleashes its fury, no surprise then that people in areas like Velachery and Madipakkam needed to be airlifted to safety.
Why Exactly Does Water-logging Happen?
Unplanned urban development and unwieldy growth with no hydrological plan is the reason. If urban planners had done proactive hydrological planning, development should not have happened in many areas like Velachery, Madipakkam, Chitkapakkam, Tambaram.KP Subramanian, Retired Professor, Urban Engineering, Anna University
“It is serious interference with nature,” says urban planning expert and retired IAS officer MG Devasahayam. “The natural drainage systems are all gone.”
The problem is that we have built massive neighbourhoods right on these lakes and marshes like Pallikarnai, holding water back and flooding the new dwellings.
Most of the Pallikarnai marsh has been parcelled off and given to the IT sector, no wonder houses in those areas are severely flooded now.Nityanand Jayaraman, Chennai-based Environment Activist
And then, there is the omnipresent problem of corruption. In July 2014, a CMDA engineer reportedly wrote a letter on how his seniors executed a massive storm-water drain project without concrete reinforcement or cement.
CMDA’s Urban Planning: Living in Denial
What’s worse is that we have not learned from the past and are still in denial about the problem. In 1976 Chennai saw a record 450 mm of rainfall, almost twice what it received this year. The year 2005 too saw rains past the 250 mm water level. And yet, we have continued to build recklessly on lake-beds and river-beds.
There is no further proof required than the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority’s Chennai Master Plan 2026. As Ola operates boat services on the streets of Chennai, it’s comical to read the self-assuring claims government officials have made in the document, which is meant to lay the foundation for a better Chennai.
The conclusion of the macro-drainage section of the Master Plan reads, “Abundance of data is available on the macro drainage system. With the coordinated efforts of government agencies, involvement of stakeholders and with the application of modern technology for map-making and networking, it is earnestly hoped that flooding in the CMA will become a thing of the past.”
If one were to read the entire document, one would think the writers were schizophrenic, for they do seem to know the problems.
In the introductory chapter on macro-drainage system, the Master Plan acknowledges that, “Although several ameliorating measures have been implemented they have failed to provide total relief to Chennai citizens.”
When you ask Nityanand Jayaraman, which are the sensitive areas that are being developed right now, he cannot stop rattling off names.
They are planning a smart city in Ponneri, which received 37 cm of rainfall now. The plan there is to do exactly what causes flooding – encroach upon water bodies. The CMDA’s master plan is the master problem, if we follow it, what happens in Velachery will happen in other areas.Nityanand Jayaraman
So What Can We Do About It?
We have come so far in encroachment of water bodies that it is now impossible to turn back. We cannot ask people living in Velachery or Pallikarnai to simply move out. So what we do?
They can bite really hard and bear it. It’s not their fault, it is sad they have sunk their last penny into those properties, but some damage cannot be undone.Nityanand Jayaraman
First, the Chennai Master Plan has to be reworked by the CMDA from a hydrological point of view, and it has to be followed. Secondly, holding areas and storage plans should not be built upon.
Chennai and Chengalpettu have a large number of tanks. We have to use these tanks by connecting drains to them instead of building on them.KP Subramanian, Retired Professor of Urban Engineering, Anna University
Thirdly, as Devasahayam says, storm-water drains have to be an integral part of laying roads. An area cannot be developed without proper roads or drains.
Urban planning expert Mark Selvaraj writes, “In the last five years, Chennai has spent Rs 10,000 crore to build storm-water drains. But construction of these drains should be based on proper hydrological calculation which was never done.”
Further, a major revamp of the city administration is required, say experts.
The city needs a separate agency which can plan, control and implement storm water drain projects, responsibilities now being shared by PWD and the corporation. A central planning agency should replace the CMDA in this regard.Mark Selvaraj, Urban Planning Expert
Beyond all of this, there is one thing we cannot do without – accepting that this is a man-made problem.
Jayalalithaa’s comment that the government cannot do anything beyond rescue and relief during such times is vulgar. And we have to acknowledge that.Nityanand Jayaraman
(Ramanathan S works with The News Minute. The story has been edited for length.)
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