Chennai’s Madipakkam lake exemplifies ‘blue-green centre’ full of avian life
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Easing flood threats: The restoration of the Puzhuthivakkam lake has helped in flood mitigation and recharging of the groundwater table.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
Picture a serene lake, spanning 60 acres, encircled by a walkway and adorned with tall palm trees on one side. In the evenings, locals take a stroll, sit on benches and chat, occasionally pausing to look at the wares of hawkers and the diverse eateries lining the street. This is the Madipakkam lake, an example of ‘blue-green centres’ that are now hailed as a conservation strategy in urban areas. However, if you turn the clock back by two decades, the scene would have been different. It was a barren parcel of land plagued by the invasive Prosopis juliflora, illegal sewage discharge, and garbage dumping, one that was vulnerable to further encroachment.
Years of efforts helped to protect the land from construction and encroachments, according to V. Subramani of Sabari Greens Foundation, the non-governmental organisation that played a key role in the restoration of the lake. Now, hundreds of walkers visit the lake every day and senior citizens spend time with their grandchildren here in the evenings, he says.
Benefits to surroundings
Restoring an urban lake in a city suffering from high temperatures offers benefits to its surroundings. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, a revitalised lake mitigates the urban heat island through evaporative cooling. (The urban heat island is a metropolitan area that is warmer than the rural areas surrounding it.) Ecologically, the restored lake provides diverse flora and fauna with habitats, thus fostering urban biodiversity. It becomes a recreational space and a sustainable tool for storm water management, reducing flooding and enhancing water resilience in the city.
S. Thirunavukkarasu, adviser, Care Earth Trust, says the restoration of the Madipakkam and Puzhuthivakkam lakes has helped in flood mitigation and recharging of the groundwater table in the immediate surrounding areas. “It is now a catchment that absorbs water and lets out only excess water which flows through the storm water drains. Lake restoration also helps in improving the microclimate of the neighbourhood. Waterbodies can help mitigate the urban heat island,” he says, adding that such lakes also attract avian fauna.
Madipakkam has now joined the ranks of Pallikaranai and Perumbakkam, where diminished wetlands still manage to draw in a variety of birds. So does the Puzhuthivakkam lake, where recently two Asian pied starlings have begun nesting. This has pleased A.M. Aravind, an avid birdwatcher from Velachery. He visits the lake during his morning and evening walks, and has been recording bird sightings.
Asian palm swift, pied kingfisher, rose-ringed parakeets, oriental magpie-robin, drongo, and red-wattled lapwing are some of the birds that can be spotted in the Puzhuthivakkam lake.
Another kind of greenery
Mr. Aravind has also documented the edible herbs around the lake bund, often overlooked as ‘weeds’. While the concept of greenery often conjures images of towering trees, the oft-ignored edible herbs and weeds play a crucial role in local cuisine and traditional medicine. These plants thrive in the diverse ecosystems and offer a wealth of nutritional and medicinal benefits. One prominent example is ‘mookirattai keerai’ (Commelina benghalensis), commonly known as the Benghal dayflower. This resilient weed grows abundantly across fields and open spaces in Tamil Nadu. Its tender shoots and leaves are used in various dishes.
When The Hindu visited the Puzhuthivakkam lake, Mr. Aravind showed false daisy/bringharaj (Eclipta prostrata), samba lettuce (Alternanthera sissoo), coldenia creeper (Coldenia procumbens), purple-fruited pea eggplant (Solanum trilobatum), and many more herbs growing around the bund. All these weeds were part of the ‘herb walk’ he conducted until last year, when Chennai Corporation staff carelessly d many of them as part of maintenance.
Problems persist
Indiscriminate cutting of tree branches to avoid obstruction on the walkway around the Puzhuthivakkam lake has caused stress to several trees, some of which have eventually died. Mr. Aravind says greenspaces don’t need much human intervention unless it is to invasive species. “Everywhere around the world, rewilding is being talked about. So, nature will take charge. If at all you want to plant, plant only the native trees,” he says.
In Puzhuthivakkam, Lantana camara is beginning to proliferate. “During the walks I conducted before August 2023, I used to struggle to show the species. Now it has spread,” he says.
At Madipakkam, an underground sewerage system is yet to be constructed in some wards. As a result, sewage from some places drains into the lake. If it persists, the sewage can contaminate the water with pollutants and pathogens, harming aquatic life, and reducing water quality. This, in turn, can affect the avian life and the overall ecosystem.
To avoid this, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board must address the problems of sewage discharge and dumping of debris in lakes, says Mr. Subramani. He goes on to say that there are no guidelines for desilting an urban lake, a practice that is important to keep the waterbody healthy. The tourism potential of the Madipakkam lake also remains untapped. Pedal boating and watchtower to see birds can be brought in here, he says.
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