Chennai: The Greater Chennai corporation has launched a novel and innovative way to recharge groundwater table in the coastal city. Besides arresting salinisation of groundwater table, these structures, which are designed and developed in Germany, would end waterlogging on roads and streets.
The Chennai corporation had joined hands with other departments to launch a massive drive to install rainwater harvesting structures and renovated 200 community wells to recharge the groundwater table for the past few years. In line with this, the corporation has taken up the novel project to recharge the groundwater table at a cost of `3.5 crore. Water logging will be a thing of the past in Chennai.
The corporation has commenced installing underground rainwater infiltration wells in the city and has proposed to set up 2,000 eco-bloc infiltration wells along the road side, streets and in catchment area to tap the excess water during rainfall.
The eco-bloc infiltration wells are manufactured in Germany and have more than 35 years of installation history. These structures can be used as rainwater infiltration and storage tanks.
The solid structure can be installed at a depth of 10 feet below ground to tap natural soil strata. It has about 2,500 litres storage capacity and infiltrates rainwater in real time. This can hold top loading of more than 40 tonnes per sq metre and has four layers of filtration of up to 200 microns. It is easy to clean by using pressure wash or replacing tap filter layer. The structure can last up to 50 years without causing clogging. These can be installed in less than 5 hours.
“A total of 2,000 structures in 15 zones in the Greater Chennai corporation would be installed across the city in six months,” said Prabhakar D, project engineer.
“The corporation officials will select the locations, affected by water-logging, to install the structures. Corporation workers face difficulties in cleaning the silt in the conventional recharge wells. However, it is easy to clean eco-bloc infiltration wells as this could done with water flush,” said a senior official in Chennai corporation.
The new model can be easily installed, shifted and reinstalled easily. It has four layers of filtration. This would go a long way in recharging the groundwater table and provide uninterrupted water supply to the residents, he added.
