Metrowater intensifies surveillance against tankers releasing sewage into waterways

CMWSSB intensifies surveillance to prevent sewage dumping in Chennai waterways, fines vehicles, installs CCTV cameras, and plans restoration projects.

In its efforts to abate pollution in the city’s major waterways, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has intensified its surveillance to prevent sewage tankers from disposing raw sewage into waterways.

Of the nearly 82 vehicles booked by various government agencies for discharging raw sewage into waterways, Metrowater has booked cases against 17 vehicles since February. A large number of lorries were found to have been dumping sewage into the Buckingham Canal compared to the Cooum and Adyar.

CMWSSB officials said closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras had been installed to monitor seven vulnerable points of the Buckingham Canal in Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones and one along the Cooum at Mogappair East. Some of the hotspots identified along the Buckingham Canal include Ennore, Manali, Sathyamoorthy Nagar, and Jalladianpet.

Officials are also accessing the surveillance network of Greater Chennai Corporation to monitoring the unauthorised release of sewage and dumping of solid waste in waterways. The water agency alone has levied a fine amount of ₹5 lakh on vehicles for polluting major waterways this year. About 320 kL of sewage has been prevented from being dumped into waterways since February.

Sources said the pollution was now being noticed in stretches off city limits, including in Navalur, Padur, and Kelambakkam, with more restrictions in place now. Residents said the monitoring of sewage vehicles should also be intensified in the suburbs, and local bodies should draw up a list of sewage tankers in their jurisdiction and track them with the global positioning system.

J. Rathinavel of Navalur said vehicles often dumped raw sewage in vacant lands and storm-water drains in localities such as Navalur and Thazhambur, which were yet to get an underground drainage network. This posed the threat of groundwater contamination. Night patrolling must be intensified in peripheral areas and more decanting points must be constructed, he added.

The CMWSSB is also working with other line agencies to restore waterways under the aegis of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust. “We have identified nearly 368 sewage outfalls in the Cooum, Adyar, and Buckingham Canal. Work has been suspended due to the northeast monsoon, and will resume by January,” an official said.