The Water Resources Department has begun a ₹7-crore restoration project at Chennai’s 120-acre Pallavaram Periya Eri, with plans to clear water hyacinth, desilt the lake, strengthen its bunds and remove around 200 residential and commercial encroachments from its northern side.
Workers have started clearing the invasive vegetation that has choked parts of the lake. The project also includes reshaping the bunds and improving the inlet and outlet channels so the waterbody can receive and retain rainwater more effectively.
The restoration will focus on three major inlet channels that feed Pallavaram Periya Eri. One channel originates in the Tirusulam hills, another connects from Thiruneermalai through Moongil Eri, and a third runs from Veeraraghavan Lake through Chrompet. A senior WRD official said silt and other obstructions would be removed to restore the channels’ carrying capacity.
Sewage inflows are a parallel challenge. Officials are examining sections of the inlet channels that now carry wastewater instead of rainwater. A WRD official said sewage would need to be diverted to the underground sewerage system before the lake could be restored as a freshwater source.
The department has identified about 200 residential and commercial structures as encroachments on the lake’s northern side and said they would be removed as part of the project. The proposed action is significant because the restoration depends not only on work within the lake but also on protecting the channels and land that allow water to reach it.
Residents have welcomed the restoration but said desilting and encroachment removal would not be enough unless sewage discharge and dumping were stopped. M Gandhi, president of the Pallavaram Residents’ Welfare Association, said sewage from buildings and tanker lorries continued to enter the lake. He also said the southern side was being used as a dumping ground where garbage was regularly burnt.
Pallavaram resident and activist David Manohar said earlier Right to Information data had recorded about 1,300 encroachments around the lake and claimed the number had since increased. He urged the Greater Chennai Corporation and the WRD to verify the current count. Manohar also alleged that several commercial establishments were using stormwater drains to discharge sewage into the lake.
The lake’s restoration is also linked to local water availability. According to Manohar, Pallavaram currently receives around 15.2 million litres of water a day, making the revival of the waterbody relevant to the area’s wider water-resource system. The WRD’s immediate milestones are the removal of hyacinth, desilting, channel clearance, sewage-flow assessment and action against the identified encroachments.
