Chennai: Taking strong exception to the Tambaram corporation and water resources department’s failure to plug sewage contamination of Madambakkam lake, the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the civic body to fast-track implementation of the underground sewerage scheme.Until the project is completed, the tribunal has directed the corporation to operationalize an ‘interception and diversion’ system and decentralize sewage treatment plants to prevent further sewage discharge into the waterbody. These orders were passed in the case taken up suo motu by the tribunal in 2023 over sewage contamination of the lake.Water quality tests taken by central and state pollution control boards had shown faecal coliform and total coliform levels exceeding permissible limits—implying that the water was dangerous for consumption. While the Tambaram corporation had said the water was not directly drawn from the lake for consumption and that projects had been proposed for the waterbody’s restoration, the tribunal pointed out that no concrete measures have been taken yet to curb the problem.The southern bench also gave the WRD six months to undertake restoration measures, including desilting, removing aquatic weeds and strengthening lake bunds, to ensure protection of the lake boundary from encroachments. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has also been asked to periodically inspect water quality of the lake and initiate coercive action under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, in case of non-compliance.“The level of pollution has been increasing day by day. The corporation must expedite the implementation of an interception and diversion system, which it planned at 11 points around the lake. Though it said that the system will be in place in six months, the compliance has been shoddy,” said Dayanand Krishnan, civic activist.
