As part of its continued efforts to find a permanent solution to floods in southern parts of the city, the Water Resources Department (WRD) has submitted a proposal to widen Adyar river near Kundrathur to enable free flow of rainwater.
The Adyar runs for a distance of 42 km and carries surplus water of several waterbodies in Kancheepuram. However, the river is too narrow at some vulnerable points, leading to spill over during extreme weather events.
The WRD has planned to widen the river on the left bank near Kundrathur for a distance of nearly 1.2 km. Once completed, the river’s width will be increased from 42 m to 120 m. “We will have to acquire vacant lands, spread over nearly 12.6 acres, for the project. As of now, there is no irrigation or construction activity carried out in the place,” an official said. A major chunk of the project cost of ₹39.45 crore will go towards land acquisition.
The widened portion will have a carrying capacity of nearly 48,000 cusecs, and this will reduce inundation in the areas upstream, including Old Perungalathur and Mudichur, even during extreme weather events. “This will be one of the permanent solutions to reduce inundation during weather events that occur once in a century. This year, we plan to tackle flooding by measured release of floodwater from the Chembarambakkam reservoir as needed after it reaches capacity,” an official said.
At present, the river is only 42 me wide near the Chembarambakkam surplus course confluence point, and its width is nearly 63 m upstream. The varying width in different portions led to afflux in river in the upstream stretch. In 2015, the river carried equal amounts of surplus water from various waterbodies upstream, including Adanur tank, apart from the water discharged from Chembarambakkam reservoir, officials said. The project is under the scrutiny of the State government.
