Where Water Goes to Die

Once spread over a 100 acres, the Adambakkam lake is now less than one-tenth its original size.

On the Southern Sector of the arterial Inner Ring Road, which connects the erstwhile southern suburbs of Chennai such as Adambakkam, Velachery, and Thillai Ganga Nagar, the construction of a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) station for Vanuvampet is in progress. This phase of the MRTS project will have elevated tracks. Pillars have been raised on the road, which effectively divide it into a two-lane highway. Makeshift medians made of flimsy sticks, lengths of plastic sheets holding them together, maintain this divide where there are no pillars, or where they are being constructed. The MRTS here is expected to ease the commute for residents of the rapidly growing areas of Adambakkam, Nanganallur, Puzhuthivakkam, Ullagaram, and Vanuvampet.

Not all costs of this project are apparent, and the cost that will affect the surrounding localities the most is perhaps the environmental cost. For, the Vanuvampet MRTS has come up on what used to be the water spread area of the little-known Adambakkam Lake.

Here, a narrow canal of 15 ft width has been constructed to allow water from the 1968 ft wide lake to pass through. This was discovered as one of the reasons for the inundation of surrounding areas during the 2015 floods. Now, as is the case during summers, the canal runs dry and is filled with garbage and domestic waste.

The flood of 2015, however, is symptomatic of a bigger issue: unplanned urbanisation and lackadaisical governance. To understand the scale of indifference towards such ruthless “development”, let us take a look at Adambakkam Lake’s original water spread area.

Map of 1960, Survey of India. Source: T R Shashwath

The Adambakkam and Velachery lakes, each almost indistinguishable from the other once upon a time, look like this now:

The original water spread area of Adambakkam Lake, 100 acres, is now hardly 8 acres. Now, the lakeshore hosts a wedding hall, its parking space, a couple of restaurants, and a residential building, and an eco-toilet. On the areas where water once was, are three temples, the Inner Ring Road, the MRTS construction, two major residential colonies, one subway, and other miscellaneous localities. These areas have been enjoying access to plentiful ground water for the last three decades, thanks to the presence of the lake for a long time before it got reduced sizably. Now, the pressure on the land and the growing population have depleted the groundwater table.

An ancient water storage and irrigation system

To appreciate how integral a contributor the Adambakkam Lake was to the water resources of Adambakkam, Nanganallur, Velachery, and surrounding neighbourhoods, a trip back in time is warranted.

What we call “lakes” are actually tanks, dug out to catch and store rainwater. The ancient south Indians, especially the kings of water-starved Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, had an ingenious system in place for collecting and storing rainwater. This water was mainly used for irrigating agricultural lands. Called the Eri System, it involved digging out a chain of tanks and maintaining them.

Each tank, or "eri", supported agriculture as well as other water-related needs of the people. Typically, a chain of tanks was involved in storing surplus water to the maximum, preventing unnecessary run off to the sea. So, for instance, when a Tank A gets filled up during the monsoon season, the surplus water will be taken to Tank B which will be located downstream, through an odai, a surplus channel. Once Tank B is filled up, another surplus channel carries the excess water from Tank B to Tank C, located further downstream. The last tank in this chain will be located closest to the sea and is also the largest. Only when this last tank is filled up and cannot hold any more water, does the excess water gets let into the sea.

"Adambakkam has been mentioned as an agrarian village in the 2000-3000 years old inscriptions of Dandeeswaram temple in Velachery. Velachery and Adambakkam were ancient agrarian villages. And human settlement was always on higher ground," says T R Shashwath, an environmentalist.
The Adambakkam Lake as seen from the Inner Ring Road. Photo: Kirthika S

As for the Adambakkam lake, it receives water from lakes located further up in Pallavaram and Tirusulam. When the Adambakkam lake fills up, water is carried to the Velachery lake through Veerangal Odai, the surplus channel. The Velachery lake is the last tank in the chain, and surplus water from here flows into the Pallikaranai marshlands.

Dr. M Kaarmegam, who had led the "Micro-level Rainwater Harvesting studies at Alandur Municipality" on behalf of the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, mapped the entire layout of the tank system in the area for this writer:

“Adambakkam lake is a part of a chain of tanks: the Pallavaram tank, and approximately six tanks near the airport area; water from these tanks will flow to Adambakkam. This will spill into Velachery, which will end in Pallikaranai. There were five tanks where Raj Bhavan is today—one was closed to develop IIT. The surplus from here flows via Raj Bhavan gate into Velachery.Velachery eri was originally 350 acres (sic),” he says.

Disappearing in plain sight

The St. Thomas Mount area, under which Adambakkam was classified for administrative purposes, started developing in the 1940s.

“People started building houses in the lake area as early as the 1940s,” says P K Nagarajan (71), who has been a resident on Medavakkam High Road for the past 40 years.

“Even in the 1970s, I’ve seen people cultivate paddy on that side,” he says, pointing to what is now a residential colony developed for the employees of a public sector bank, across his house.

Shashwath states that agriculture was practiced till as late as the 1970s.

“In the 1980s and to a certain extent in the 1990s, there was only agriculture north, south, and west of Pallikaranai marsh, including Adambakkam. However, in Adambakkam, agriculture started dwindling by the 1970s.”

Old timers say that there were large-scale encroachments on the lake bund, 40 years ago.

“It started with people building houses, the government demolishing them, and then there would be encroachments again. By the 1970s, the area got totally encroached,” says Anuradha Sivakumar (57), who grew up watching the lake die.

It is important to note at this point that Adambakkam came under Alandur Municipality in 1965.

According to Dr Kaarmegam, Adambakkam lake was filled up with soil and built up. Later, to protect themselves from eviction, the encroachers got together and obtained patta for their lands.

Karthik Narayanan, an advocate, concurs.

“The Tamil Nadu government has always aimed to be a welfare state. Hence, the leader in power would always want to please the people. So they conceded to their (encroachers’) demands and provided them with approved plots,” he says.

"People don't get proper sewage connections done because it will increase property tax. So they just connect it to the streets or the canals, and that is how the surplus and irrigation canals get contaminated," Kaarmegam adds.
Video: Kirthika S

Encroachments upon the lake area happened over approximately 30 years, turning into full-fledged residential areas by the 1960s. The residents got together, formed associations, and got the lands allotted to them, says Anuradha.

"After 1968, it was common for the government to create schemes and layouts on eri land. The catchment areas were declared as not for irrigation and the government started making layouts on them and sold plots. The non-catchment area was occupied over time, slowly, mostly by migrants," says V Subramani, founder of the Sabari Green Foundation. He has been actively involved in getting the government to sanction funds for cleaning up the lake and is a member of the Adambakkam Lake Rejuvenation Committee.

Explaining the layout of a typical eri, Dr Kaarmegam says:

"A tank consists of three main parts: (a) the catchment area, where water is received, (b) the water spread area, where water is stored, and (c) the ayacut area, the agricultural lands where the water is used. Now, it is okay to build in catchment area—it encourages runoff and water gets to the storage area quicker. It is still okay to build up in the ayacut area, no one is doing agriculture now. But you shouldn't touch the water spread area. This is also built upon, now. This is causing flooding—there is no room for the water to go."

Echoing his view, V Ramarao, member of the Sabari Green Foundation and the Palavanthangal Welfare Association (PWA), talks about how the Veerangal Odai was also encroached upon, leading to flooding of surrounding areas.

"The Inner Ring Road and MRTS stations are on (what was formerly) lake area. Because of this, the Veerangal Odai, which was originally 200 ft wide, is now reduced to 15 ft. So, excessive water that could not be carried through this canal inundated houses."
The pillars constructed on what was formerly the lake's water spread area. Video: Kirthika S

Witnesses of destruction

“I am told the lake was spread over 175 acres,” says Perumal Naidu (85), an old timer and resident of Medavakkam High Road.

“There was a pathway along the lakeside that I would use to walk all the way to my workplace in Nanganallur. Now they have built upon that path too.”

Subramani says the Medavakkam Main Road was originally the lake bund.

“The water was plenty. Now though…” he trails off.

Andal Naidu (70), Perumal’s wife, lists the areas that were originally the lake area.

“The Karumariamman Temple, the Anjaneyar Temple, Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple, were all originally just the lake. It (the lake) used to stretch till as far as the eye could see,” she says wistfully.

Anuradha mentions more localities that came under the lake.

“The Inner Ring Road, Surendra Nagar, Shanthi Nagar, Jeevan Nagar, parts of Thillai Ganga Nagar and the Thillai Ganga Nagar Subway were all just water,” she says. “I used to swim in those areas with my friends,” she smiles.

“Oh, and 54 years ago, they used to cultivate chillies in Ram Nagar (Adambakkam) using the water from the lake,” she adds.

People purchased these lands and built homes and other commercial buildings. The farmers, too, sold the lands for want of money.

“It was a huge lake,” says Nagapoosanam V (64). “You couldn’t tell where the Adambakkam lake ended and the Velachery lake started. It was brimming with life, people used huge fishing nets to catch fish. Beautiful birds would come during different times of the year, it was a treat to watch them."

“Now it has turned into a sewage canal. It is polluted, and people practice open defecation on its banks now. Had it been preserved, we wouldn’t have such acute water scarcity now,” she says.

Indifferent law enforcing authorities

The Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Act, 2007, authorises the Revenue Department to work with the Public Works Department (PWD) and where necessary, the police force, to survey tanks, draw up charts and data. The officer will be appointed by the government, and he/she will have to publish a notice regarding the limits of the tank within a month from the survey date. The department that has been vested with the responsibility of maintaining lakes, the PWD, will then work on evicting encroachments with the help of the Revenue Department, the police force, and when necessary, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB). The tanks and its command area, classified as eri poromboke lands, cannot be built on, or be used for cultivating crops or plantations without the approval of the government.

"A bunch of politicians have built their residences on what was the lake bed. In 2014, I saw a road being laid for them. This is currently Jeevan Nagar 5th Street. I  along with other residents took the matter up with the Corporation Commissioner and the elected representatives and got the work halted. When it comes to encroachment by such people of power, the Corporation and PWD are hand-in-glove with them," says Augustine David, president of the Federation of Adambakkam Welfare Associations (FAWA). FAWA has successfully obtained a sanction of ₹ 1.5 crores for the rejuvenation of the lake, from Alandur MLA T M Anbarasan. 

The PWD, under whose care the Adambakkam lake is, is largely blamed for the lake’s disappearance. Rao says that despite multiple appeals to the elected representatives, and despite ₹ 5 crores being allocated for the rejuvenation of the lake, nothing has happened.

“The State government has allocated ₹300 crores to revive water bodies across the State for kudimaramathu (tank maintenance activities). Adambakkam lake is however not mentioned under the scheme. Their reasoning is, the funds are meant for rural areas,” says Rao.

Another reason that the PWD provides for their inaction, he says, is that they have to take up the original water spread area, including the encroached areas into account. They claim to face animosity whenever they try to evict encroachers, he says.

“Yet another argument would be, only tanks with ayacut area can be conserved, and Adambakkam lake doesn’t have one. Of course, there can’t be one. Can we cultivate the encroached lands? So, they have abandoned the lake altogether,” says Rao.

The official stand

Kuja Raj, Assistant Engineer, PWD-WRO Chengalpet, says that they have tried evictions multiple times and that they faced strong opposition from the people.

“This activity involves the Revenue Department, police forces, and where necessary, the TNSCB. They are also hesitant to take on the encroachers. What can we do single-handedly?” he asks.

Asked about the ₹ 5-crore allocation for saving the lake, Kuja Raj said he was not aware of the status.

A systemic failure

According to Dr Kaarmegam, you can’t just place the blame on the PWD.

“It’s a systemic fault. Residential buildings have let out sewage lines into the canal. Canal gets clogged. There are laws in place for conservation and preservation of tanks, to prevent encroachments. But the enforcing authorities aren’t able to do anything. In this case, it is the PWD. If they do try, the reaction is very bad. Let’s say a politician has encroached on a lake area. You go confront him, your family will not be safe. You’ll be threatened. It has happened to me,” he says.

“It’s a collective failure of the public, the government, academics like me. If an area has to be developed, multiple people are involved: government representatives, academics, experts. But that is not happening. The system has given more power to political clout. And until that changes, this is how the land will get degraded.”

Dr Kaarmegam also rues about how people don’t appreciate water and its forms as much as they should.

“Whenever I am stressed out, back in my village, I used to go to the village eri and sit on its shore. The ripples on the water, the fishes moving around, the various birds dipping in for a catch… all these are calming. Can I expect that in Chennai today?” he asks.

Putting the lake on ventilation

Dr Kaarmegam provides an alternative solution to save what is left of the lake.

“It’s too late to evict. Take stock of remaining area. Deepen, desilt, create a bund. Two benefits will arise from this: storage and percolation. Raise the bund by 25%. You’ll get a level ground then to build offices or parks,” he says.

Even if the PWD is ready to do this, is the public willing to cooperate, he asks.

“Water is precious. Losing these tanks and other water bodies will be an irrecoverable loss. It will hit us hard only when our children and grandchildren struggle to find water for their daily needs,” he says.