Heavy Rain in Madurai made Madurai float in the floods

It was a cool Monday evening, which was sequential to a sunny Monday morning and a very Hot Monday afternoon and eventually the Independence Day 2011 August 15th. Later, when it was dark, it started raining, raining for couple of hours cats and dogs! Heavy Rain!!!

Lot of water everywhere. Not able to drive cars or four wheelers. Not able to walk. Not able to ride bikes or bicycles. Everywhere it was flooded in Madurai. The water was till knee level in some places. Some of the most affected places in Madurai were Periyar Bus stand, Vakil New Street, Thavittu Sandhai, Theppakulam, Simmakkal etc.,

All of the transportation were stuck and could not function. Incidentally, it was end of the long weekend for Independence day 2011. However, going into the water saving schemes for rain water - it is very important that there are certain incomplete schemes which government has to take up and complete it for the betterment of Madurai.

This rain water saving scheme would help Madurai drain and use most of the rain water and also help the transportation and other normal schedule to happen smooth. It is requested to the Government to take care of that, so that Madurai can be saved from continuous rains and floods. This was the case only for one day and couple of hours rain. What if the same continues for days together. Madurai will float like the Lotus in the Lotus pond!!

New sewage plant for water treatment to function in Madurai - planned for next 30 years

MADURAI: A new sewage treatment plant, constructed at Avaniapuram, would become operational next week. The Rs. 76-crore project was funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

“It is for the first time in the State that we have adopted sequencing batch reactor, the latest technology,” the Corporation Chief Engineer, K. Sakthivel, said. The technology was far superior to existing two sewage treatment technologies. It also conformed to the new pollution control norms, he added.

The city was generating 105 million litres a day (MLD) of sewage. “The 125-MLD-capacity of the new plant has been aimed at meeting the city's sewage treating requirement for the next 30 years,” he said.

Initially, the plant would be used to treat 27 MLD of sewage, presently treated with the old treatment plant. Work on laying an underground drainage pipeline to carry the city's sewage to Avaniapuram would be completed by August, when it would start treating 80 MLD.

The city would also be able to put an end to draining the sewage in the irrigation channels and the Vaigai River.

“The greatest advantage of this plant would be purifying the sewage water to the maximum possible level. The water could be used for any purpose other than drinking,” Mr. Sakthivel said.

Stating that over 100 MLD of treated water could be generated by August, the Chief Engineer said that it would be a perennial source of water for industrial and agricultural usages.

The local body could also generate revenue by selling the water.

The city had 98,000 underground drainage connections. On completion of the project, a total of 1.35 lakh underground connections would be provided, he said.

courtesy t h e h i n d u