Madurantakam tank to be restored by July

Madurantakam tank restoration project nears completion, enhancing water storage capacity and benefiting local communities.

Madurantakam tank, one of the largest and ancient waterbodies in Chengalpattu district, will be restored with an enhanced storage capacity by July this year. The ambitious restoration project is in its final phase, raising the hopes of those who are dependent on it for water.

Located in Madurantakam town, the tank has a historical backdrop of having been restored during the British rule by then Collector Lionel Place in 1798. Spread over nearly 1,058 hectares, the waterbody is undergoing a major restoration project at a cost of ₹172.66 crore after several decades. Nearly 86% of the work has been completed on the tank — a major source of drinking water and irrigation for an ayacut area of 3,077.47 hectares. The restoration project was started in June 2022. Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD), which is the project implementation agency, said the height of the five weirs — a structure that allows excess water to flow out — had been increased by 0.5 metres to improve the storage capacity from 694 million cubic feet (mcft) to 791 mcft.

The lake already has a storage of nearly 325 mcft, and is used to irrigate nearly 1,154 hectares of land — including those at Kadapperi and Vilagam villages — through sluices. The sixth weir is being replaced with a spillway — a dam-like structure with 12 shutters for controlled release of floodwater when the tank reaches full capacity. This would enable the discharge of up to 1.20 lakh cusecs, officials said.

“We used the earth from tank bed to strengthen the bund, and form a foreshore bund for a length of 18.5 km to prevent waterlogging on agricultural lands after the completion of the project,” an official added. Work is under way to reconstruct the damaged sluices, and the damaged retaining wall to protect the tank bund from wave action and breaches during monsoon. The department has also completed 80% of the work to desilt and strengthen the banks of Kiliyar river and Nelvoy Maduvu supply channels that mainly supply water to the Madurantakam tank. The waterbody also feeds about 30 other tanks through the Madurantakam high level canal.

R. Muralimohan, a resident of Madurantakam, suggested that the government explored the feasibility of improving the tank as tourist place with recreational facilities. Coarse soil must be provided to farmers during the desilting exercise. About 40 villages, including Pudupattu and Vedanthangal, would benefit from this project. Officials said farmers would be able to irrigate thrice a year, and migratory birds visiting the Vedanthangal sanctuary would feed from the tank. There is potential for water to be used as buffer source for Chennai.