Residents oppose sewage treatment plant near Madambakkam lake

On March 1, close to 200 residents of Madambakkam attended a protest meeting, one furthering the goals of the Save Madambakkam Lake movement. They urged the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation to drop the plan to establish a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in the vicinity of Madambakkam Lake.

On March 1, close to 200 residents of Madambakkam attended a protest meeting, one furthering the goals of the Save Madambakkam Lake movement. They urged the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation to drop the plan to establish a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in the vicinity of Madambakkam Lake.

Brigadier (retired) Mohan Thomas, a social activist, who took part in the meeting, says, “The STP should be commissioned far away from the crowded localities and not near the Madambakkam lake. A waterbody must receive fresh rainwater and not treated water.” 

Residents are dependent on groundwater replenished by the lake. ‘The lake will become a septic tank, and the groundwater will be ruined,” he said. 

Apart from the impact the plant will have on the groundwater, there is also a threat to Indian Air Force aviators due to bird issues, said Mohan Thomas.

Residents also fear stench from sewage overflow and impact during monsoon. “The proposed site is approximately one kilometre from the edge of the runway and directly in the aircraft’s flight path,” he said. Sewage will flow into the STP via the network, known as the influent. These influents, when treated in the plant, will produce the sludge. The treated water is proposed to be channelised into the lake. “Water treated by a secondary stage treatment process is not fit for channelisation into a static waterbody. If this happens, the lake will be deprived of oxygen and, in a short period of time, will become poisonous,” say residents.

‘30,000 people live around the proposed site’