Chennai: One year on, works to augment the existing sewage treatment infrastructure in Tiruvallur municipality has missed several deadlines allowing unabated entry of half-treated sewage into the Putlur lake and increasing health hazards for residents.Responding to a petition submitted at the Chief Minister’s Special Cell, officials said the works were scheduled to be completed by July 31. The deadline is over long ago, and still residents say hardly any work has been happening at the facility.Located at Periyakuppam, the decade-old 6.2MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) receives around 6MLD of wastewater from the municipality. However, as the plant only operates at half the capacity, half-treated water is being let out into the Putlur lake, which subsequently drains into the Cooum at Tiruvallur. Subsequently, the district administration took up works last year to set up a ₹10-crore soil-biotechnology infrastructure near the plant to augment the treatment.But when TOI visited the site, mounds of soil were dug up, but no workers were seen. Greenish sludge was flowing on the surface of Putlur lake, right next to the STP.“For more than a year, the standard response of officials has been that the work will be completed soon. But there is no end in sight. Sewage continues to enter the lake and pollute the Cooum. The existing plant’s efficiency is decreasing day by day,” said D Anandakrishnan, resident of Manavalan Nagar, who filed the petition.A staffer at the STP said that as a temporary measure to plug sewage leakage into Putlur lake, a pipeline had been laid underground to carry the half-treated wastewater directly to the Putlur check dam, bypassing the lake. Residents, however, said it did not help reduce pollution.“They are merely shifting the polluted wastewater from one area to another by bypassing the lake. The only solution to curb the issue is by repairing the existing STP and building additional infra,” said A Kumaran, a resident.Tiruvallur district collector S Kavitha did not respond to multiple calls for comments. An official from the municipality acknowledged that the existing STP was only half-efficient.Tiruvallur MLA T Arunkumar said the issue had already been communicated to the WRD and the district administration. “Works will be expedited and completed in one month. I have also spoken about the issue in Assembly, and raised the demand to make the Cooum river from Kesavaram to Chembarambakkam a protected drinking water zone,” he said.
