Corpn. urged to expedite treatment plant work for Singanallur Tank.

Islets of water hyacinth and waste float around the Singanallur Tank. A gentle breeze pushes them towards the bunds and the boat house in the north. And, the water reflects the sky not in blue but a blue with a tinge of green, thanks to the growth of algae.

Sometime ago one could not catch a reflection of the sky as water hyacinth had covered the entire water spread area of the 285-acre tank. The Coimbatore Corporation had spent Rs. 30 lakh a few months ago to remove the weeds, install aluminium railings and refurbish the boat house. It also promised to install a sewage treatment plant to ensure flow of cleaned water into the tank.

But with the recent rains and flow of sewage-mixed rain water into the tank there is every possibility of water hyacinth invading the tank surface, say sources, adding that there are signs of it already in place. In the coming weeks, when the South-West Monsoon lashes the hills in the western periphery of the city, more clean water will flow and that will aid the growth of the weed.

They want the Coimbatore Corporation to install the treatment plant at the earliest. Sources in the civic body say that the project report to install a plant to treat two million litres a day is underway. Once that is complete, the civic body will have to float tenders, fix a contractor and get the job done in the next few months.

The sources also assure that the work may not take long as it will be a small plant, unlike the ones installed to treat underground sewage in Ukkadam or Ondipudur.

Environmentalists and activists say the civic body will do well to improve the pace of the project lest the Rs. 30 lakh spent will go waste.

The tank has three inlets – a channel in the north-west boundary, another in the north and the Singanallur Channel that feeds water from River Noyyal.


THE HINDU