Chennai: An overflowing Chembarambakkam would not have left Chennai floating and a disaster of this magnitude could have been averted if only the government had paid heed to the warnings and suggestions of its scientists.
As early as 2009, scientists of the Ground and Surface Water Research and Data Centre, a research wing of the state Water Resource Organisation, had cautioned the government that the city would not be able to withstand 10 cm rainfall plus discharge of surplus water from Chembarambakkam lake on the same day.
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The study, commissioned immediately after the 2005 flood by the then AIADMK government and completed in 2009 during the DMK rule, had revealed the absence of even flood lines (flood line is the extent to which surplus water from overflowing rivers will spread out) on the bank of Adyar River. The scientists suggested construction of a flood carrier from Chennai river basin to Palar river basin to avoid disasters like the one that has now devastated Chennai.
“We found out that most of the water spread area and flood line along Adyar River was encroached. We advised our bosses not to permit any construction within the flood line. We suggested diversion of surplus water from Chembarambakkam reservoir to Palar River. All that the government had to do was construct a flood carrier for around 10 km from the lake to Wallajah,” a retired WRO scientist told Deccan Chronicle.
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