Desilting work restores portion of Noyyal river to its original size near Perur

Coimbatore: With the combined efforts of the water resources department (WRD) and NGO Siruthuli, a portion of the Noyyal River near Perur has been restored to its original size, as part of the restoration project, after more than a decadeMore than 65-70% of the restoration work, which began in late March, has been completed. The restoration work comprises desilting of the riverbed, restoring bunds to original size, strengthening the bunds, and planting trees along the bunds for a stretch of 1.8km at Perur near Padithurai. The Noyyal enters the city at Perur, where it gets polluted and shrinks, leading to a lack of adequate fresh water supply to the lakes connected to the river. C Chinnasamy, chief operating officer (COO), Siruthuli, said approximately 10 tonnes of waste, along with the silt, had been removed during the desilting work. Among the waste were mainly those thrown into the river during rituals near the temple. Chinnasamy said, "The width, depth and the inflow of the river have increased. Before the desilting work, the width of the river shrunk to 8-10m, which has been restored to 30m and the actual width of 40m near the bridge. Similarly, the depth was only a metre. Now, the depth has increased to 2.1m. Likewise, before desilting, the river had only 18 million litres of inflow, and after restoring its original size, it can carry an additional 54 million litres of water." The WRD has also planned to plant 7,000 trees along the bunds for 1.8km. Wastewater is let into the river through two inlet points, one with 1.5 million litres per day (MLD) and the other with 1.1MLD. The WRD is also conducting a feasibility study on creating two lagoons near the two inlet points to treat wastewater with biological enzymes.Simultaneously, plans to plant species like Canna indica, commonly known as Kalvalai and vettiver that reduce nutrient levels and remove heavy metals, on the lagoons are also being considered. This project is said to be completed before the arrival of the monsoon.