sewage Citizen Matters, Chennai

Chennai Buzz: Trees cut for Smart City, plans for new STPs, a Nature trail along the Cooum and more!

July 16, 2018 Sandhya Raju

What’s happening, or set to happen, in your city? A quick look at some of the more important headlines from Chennai last week, as you start a new one!

Chennai Buzz: Preparing for monsoon, GCC to charge for trash collection, fire safety plan for T Nagar, and more!

June 18, 2018 Sandhya Raju

Roads to be monsoon-ready, trash pick up to be chargeable, city’s canals choking with plastic!Did you catch all the news about Chennai last week? A quick look at the civic stories that made the headlines.

When government officials heard citizens out on sewage woes

April 11, 2018 Sandhya Raju

At the Sakkadai Thiruvizha organised by Arappor Iyakkam, officials from Chennai Corporation, PWD and CMWSSB met citizens from various neighbourhoods, who raised important questions on sewage and pollution of the city’s water bodies.

How a pond becomes a sewage dump: The Vannankuttai tale

April 6, 2018 Raghukumar Choodamani

Toilets by the shore, illegal sewage pipes draining into stormwater drains, debris dumped secretly — A citizen journalist’s trip to the Vannankuttai in GKM Colony reveals the sordid tale of how Chennai is losing its precious waterbodies.

Don’t cry for me, Chennai

April 4, 2018 News Desk

Don’t cry, even though the systematic destruction of Chennai’s lakes, rivers and waterbodies by the steady inflow of sewage is something that would stir every thinking citizen’s heart. A poignant photo-essay by two citizen photographers.

Rs 700 crore spent annually as OMR residents wait in vain for piped water

August 4, 2017 Akshatha M

For years, residents of the famed Rajiv Gandhi Salai IT corridor have been pressing for basic water and drainage infrastructure, lack of which has meant not just huge expenses but also undesirable developments for the city as a whole.

When selling banned ‘gutkha’ is easier than restoring a city lake

July 24, 2017 Prashanth Goutham

As part of its efforts to restore Chennai’s Porur Lake, NGO Arappor Iyakkam educates people about the issues around the lake and also the politics that goes on around our urban water bodies.

Sewage lorries polluting Chennai lakes, drains with impunity

July 5, 2017 Balaji Srinivasan

Private sewage lorries illegally dump the entire raw sewage water that they collect from various residential complexes on to open fields, lake beds and storm water drains, while both CMWSSB and police look the other way.

Can Buckingham Canal acquire new meaning for Chennaites?

July 3, 2017 Bhavani Prabhakar

Why is the Buckingham Canal so critical for Chennai’s ecosystem? Can it be revived from its present sorry state to serve a new purpose for the city and its residents? Bhavani Prabhakar interviews a research team exploring these issues and more.

With 1073 MLD of sewage a day, why wouldn’t Chennai’s water bodies stink?

June 17, 2017 Prashanth Goutham

A detailed audit of Chennai’s sewage woes and the reasons behind it reveals that the CMWSSB is woefully out of sync with the reality of sewage generation and treatment in the city. Prashanth Goutham provides a quick summary of the findings.

With three rivers and five wetlands, why is Chennai staring at ecological collapse?

February 6, 2017 Mahesh Kumar S T

With its waterways polluted, wetlands encroached and groundwater overexploited, Chennai must wake up immediately to the need for preserving its well-endowed natural heritage.