Environment

For our English readers: A few days ago, scores of dead fish washed up onto the beaches of Adyar, and it is believed that the contamination of sea water with untreated sewage, was the primary reason for this. Once your sewage leaves your house (if within the limits of Chennai Corporation) it is pumped to the nearest sewage treatment plant (STP), where it must be treated before the water is released into the Adyar and Cooum rivers, and Buckingham Canal. Where the drainage system does not exist, the sewage is collected in septic tanks, and transported by lorries to the…

Part 1 and Part 2 of our series on rainwater harvesting (RWH) exposed how the government as well as citizens have failed in making the most of a scheme that, if implemented well, could have set Chennai as a worthy example in water management. While negligence on the part of authorities has been a crucial factor, lack of awareness on RWH as a whole also plays a major role. There is a need to dispel the ignorance or misconceptions among residents, many of whom feel that the construction of RWH structures cost a bomb.   Experts who have worked on…

In 2013, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) and Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) together started a pioneering effort in the field of wildlife and conservation: training wildlife volunteers who could bridge the gap between the Forest Department and the general public,  helping with various tasks that KFD personnel have to carry out. Here is one account of the programme as it stood in 2013. Several batches of volunteers attended the training programmes across several landscapes: Bandipur, Bhadra, Dandeli, Kudremukh and Nagarhole. About 550 people in all attended the programmes.They were called Eco-volunteers and the government organization in charge was the…

Rarely ever would runners anywhere have looked forward to rain as fervently as in the Indian capital over the second week of November. In fact, runners across the country preparing to run the popular Airtel Delhi Half Marathon at the end of the week knew that it was only rain that could save the marquee event that many consider among their most favourite races in the country. In the end the rain gods did oblige, so that on November 19th, thousands of runners participated in the half marathon on what was perhaps the least polluted day in the city in…

The first ten days of November 2017 has seen a furious and unprecedented level of dialogue and mainstream-media conversation around the topic of air quality, specifically in and about the city of New Delhi. While the situation in the national capital is indeed dire, a large part of that conversation has been aided by citizens, journalists and community activism groups having access to scientifically validated real-time, hourly-updated data of the air quality levels in their neighborhoods and surrounding areas. The conversation around air quality levels for several years primarily involved scientists and researchers from leading Indian institutes and a few…

The northeast monsoon in Chennai over the last few years has been erratic to say the least. From the torrential December 2015 downpour that submerged the city, to a sub-par monsoon in 2016 that led to a drought in the earlier part of 2017, and now the very heavy rains in the first week of the season, we have experienced the season in all its diversity. This year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced the official commencement of the northeast monsoon on October 27. While this marked a slight delay in its arrival, Chennai had already received 648.4 mm of…

Kaikondrahalli lake has seen a few ups and downs of late. This is a comprehensive update on the various works in and around Kaikondrahalli Lake. Sewage diversion pipeline work: Last year (May 2016), copious amount of sewage started flowing in from the south-east end of the lake. Despite efforts from the lake team and continuous complaints to the zonal office, this could not be stopped. Early this year, BBMP lake department undertook a sewage diversion work to divert the sewage through a pipeline through the lake. The diverted sewage will drain into the culvert in front of Purva Sunshine apartment…

Residents of Ennore along with environmentalists organized a human chain formation at Elliot’s beach on Saturday evening even as actor and probable new politician in the fray Kamal Haasan visited the Ennore creek, to know more about the ground reality of its ash pollution and encroachment. In contrast to the usual weekend scenes, Elliot’s beach at Besant Nagar was filled with more than 250 like-minded individuals – from kids to senior citizens – who were holding placards that explain the sorry state of Ennore Creek. Industrial effluents from the thermal power stations here and domestic sewage from North Chennai have…

It’s that time of the year, when crackers compete with lights. It is also the time when eye hospitals are on alert to attend to emergency cases. This is when Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) starts measuring air pollution in Bengaluru diligently and collects data to compile reports on air quality. This is also when activists, media and government agencies start coming up with fire safety guidelines. And this also is when activists who advocate eco-friendly celebrations are countered with whataboutery on crackers:“What about animal slaughter done by other religion?” “What about industrial pollution?” “Don’t you pollute air by…

Here is a drainage map of the city of Bengaluru sourced from the Central Ground Water Board website. No city sitting on a ridge line should actually get flooded but we have achieved the impossible — of course in parts. A dotted ridge line divides the city between the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin and the Dakshina Pinakini, from the North to the South. There is a huge difference between these two in the slope, the hydro-geology, the soil, the rainfall, the built up area etc. The drainage patterns - the rajkaluves - are interesting too. They are more dendritic in the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin…