Cooum — a winding, flowing, stinking lifeline of Chennai
A look of the Cooum near Pudupettai.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Ask anybody in Chennai as to what are the names of the three rivers that flow through the city, and they will most likely be flummoxed. To them there is only one river that wends its way and it stinks to the heavens and it is called the Cooum. And they will add most helpfully that something needs to be done about it, that the Government has been spending crores on this with nothing to show for it, and that during British times it was clean enough for boating.
Factually, there were four rivers – the Kosasthalaiyar, the Cooum and the Adyar that flow west to east, and the Elambore which went north to south and turned east near the General Hospital into the sea. The last-named thus ran in parallel to the Cooum for a few final kilometres and that proved its undoing. A cut was made in the 18th century to equalise water levels in the two rivers and so the Elambore became in effect a tributary of the Cooum. A seasonal river at best, its heyday was in the 17th century when it supplied the moat at Fort St George with water. In the 19th century it became part of the Buckingham Canal which was dug through the city to link two pre-existing waterways – the North Canal to Pulicat and the South Canal to Cuddalore. The subsequent history of the Buckingham Canal is too well known to merit inclusion here.
As for the rest, both the Kosasthalaiyar and the Cooum became victims of the insatiable demand for water in the city. They were linked at Kesavaram and the water was made to flow to Poondi and from then on Kilpauk for filtration and supply in the 19th century. Thus in effect, the Cooum has only sewage flowing through it and this is not likely to change. It is only during the rains that it gets enough water to flow into the sea beyond the sand bars at its mouth, and thus it gets flushed once a year or so. Now imagine that the toilet at home can only be flushed annually and you get an idea as to why it stinks.
The lights of the Tourist Trade Fai seen along Cooum river in Madras.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
And it has been stinking since British times. There are poems and articles galore about the river and The Hindu is full of stories of botched up schemes to clean it up. The most famous of these was in the late 19th century when the sand bar at the mouth was opened to allow sea water to flush the river. Unfortunately, poisonous snakes came in and killed several. Post-independence everyone was agreed that something had to be done to the Cooum. As to what, nobody knew. Arignar Anna even made it an electoral promise in 1967 and to give his successor M. Karunanidhi credit, something was done – a major clean-up was embarked upon, a sand pump was installed at the mouth and boating jetties were constructed. The CM and his cabinet went on an inaugural ride. But thereafter, with the Corporation Council suspended, the DMK Government dismissed, and its successor not so bothered, nothing much happened. But since the 1990s, Cooum clean-up has become a budget item – much money is spent with nothing to show for it. Multiple agencies have blamed each other.
The Adyar though it presents a deceptively cleaner picture, is not much different. It suffers from encroachments by big and powerful establishments as well. With more tidal action in it, the river smells a lot less, but it too needs fresh water from tanks along its course, Chembarambakkam being the best known. And when the Adyar floods, everyone along its banks needs to be nimble to up and leave. Fortunately this is not all that often. And in a tipping of the hat to a cleaner past, boating happens on a tiny stretch of the Adyar.
The estuary of Cooum and the Bay of Bengal in Chennai
| Photo Credit:
B. Jothi Ramalingam
Sadly for Chennai, none of its rivers is navigable and so beyond expecting them to be clean there is very little that can be done with them. The Buckingham Canal was navigable but the MRTS pillars on its bed have killed all prospects of revival. Incidentally, the Cooum is in danger of something similar – there have been promises not to sink pillars into it for the Maduravoyal-Harbour elevated road, but the route is uncomfortably close to the river.
Much can be done by treating sewage water and releasing it in the rivers. With present day technology this is possible and aquatic life too can thrive. There is a Chennai River Water Authority which is meant to study all of this. Until it asserts itself the sudden onset of a foul smell will remain the first indication of approaching Chennai for all new arrivals in the city. It does not speak well of a metropolis that wants to be the new Singapore. The latest announcement is that San Antonio, Texas, has some lessons for how our rivers can be restored. Let us hope for the best.
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