Flood Fighting and Poor Urban Planning

Abstract

Tamil Nadu is a coastal state prone to droughts. The climate of this state ranges from dry sub humid to semi arid. (Sub-humid regions are those regions where moisture is normally less than under humid conditions but still sufficient for the production of many agricultural crops without irrigation or dry lands farming. Tamil Nadu has 3 distinct period of rainfall. Tamil Nadu has its share of problems with groundwater quality. The main problem it faces are of salinity ) nd Fluoride content in its ground water resources, because ground water
levels have declined sharply in most areas. Catchments areas have been paved and reclaimed for constructions, where result is shown in Chennai from the past few days, in urban areas like Chennai, rainwater is unable to seep in to the ground, because the land is sealed for miles with concrete buildings and a network of roads and other impervious surfaces. Instead, this precious rainwater rushes out through drains, nallas and flows out into rivers and to the sea. Billions of litres of fresh water are lost each season. It thus becomes important and vital to address the issue of water. Considering that water can only be managed and cannot be produced, it becomes important to catch, store and manage water intelligently. Though the Tamil Nadu Government has provided various programmes to save ground water but it botched to achieve it. Unplanned and ill-thought construction, especially on river, tank and lake beds, has led to the choking of water bodies that accommodated flood waters in the past and storm water channels. Rivers, natural outlets for flood waters, are choked with garbage, sewage and silt. Drainage is non-existent in the newer areas of the city while civic bodies go slow over routine pre-monsoon municipal works. Crippling floods in the city have caused huge losses to the IT industry. IT insiders have pegged the losses at $5-10 million for mid-size firms and $40-50 million for large companies. Cognizant, Infy, TCS and other IT firms have been organizing buses every hour to send employees to Bangalore. Around 2000 employees of each of these companies have already left to work out of Bangalore, which mark as Chennai has come to a virtual standstill and is in the grip of fear and panic.