A peek into a riverside garbage hotspot

Crystal-clear waters coursing steadily and reflecting the orange of a setting sun. That is the idle, almost-Pollyannaish hope of this reporter on any twilight hour spent watching the Cooum with its sluggish waters thick as glue and too inky-dark to let the dying sun on the western sky shimmer orangey in those waters. Scrubbing the Cooum squeaky clean and turning that ambitious hope into reality would take the “hyssop” of a massive governmental, inter-departmental, long-drawn effort. As the waterway takes a squiggly course through Chennai, it is weighed down by sewage and effluents. Freeing the Cooum of those burdens requires multiple interventions. 

Now, on its journey, the Cooum carries an additional burden in its backpack: solid waste flung carelessly on its bunds and likely to slip into the waters. Cooum has an expansive underbelly marked with vulnerable points through which garbage sneaks in. A vulnerable point is one where garbage dumping is not only easy, but also seems natural. It supports the thinking: “everyone dumps garbage here; so why can’t I?” But this intervention is thankfully more straightforward. Within Greater Chennai Corporation limits, when aware of a vulnerable point, one needs to inform the local GCC officials who would in turn direct the GCC-appointed conservancy agency to clean the patch. GCC might already be aware of many vulnerable points around Cooum susceptible to garbage dumping, having been informed about it by the Water Resources Department. But it takes persistence from residents to make sure garbage dumping is noticeably checked at these points. Just clearing garbage regularly at these points is not a sustainable solution. 

One such vulnerable point is found where the river flows under a bridge at Valluvarkottam High Road in Nungambakkam, not far from Chetpet. Tossing bags of garbage from the walkway on this short bridge is easier than flicking a switch. An assortment of garbage makes it to this spot, and often the range stretches from household items to those with industrial applications, suggesting dumping by a multiplicity of people, not just residents nearby. Look closer and your eyes will haul in packaging of a diversity of brands, underlining the scale of dumping. 

Devi, who lives in a section of Chetpet just 700 metres from this garbage dumping point at Cooum in Nungambakkam and takes the bridge every day on her way to work as a domestic help nearby, makes this observation: “the garbage is primarily dumped by pedestrians taking the bridge at Valluvarkottam High Road; walking through the area has become a challenge due to the mosquito infestation and the foul smell emanating from the accumulated waste.” Sajila .K and Siji .S, two residents of this section of Valluvarkottam High Road echo this sentiment. Greater Chennai Corporation has beautification blueprints drawn up for spaces along Cooum, and can’t the civic body come up with unique plans targeting these vulnerable points? 

Putting it in concrete terms, these spaces could be designed in a manner that the design deters garbage dumping; additional checks such as warning boards and even a dummy CCTV camera could be in place.

Ready targets for litterbugs

Garbage dumping happens in waterways from bridges, sometimes the pile of muck dropped in a landing space below or quietly flung into a patch by the side. 

Littering near the bridge over the Cooum at Binny Road in Egmore.

A Water Resources Department official notes that sections of waterways around bridges are often targets of garbage dumping. The bridge increases access and those not living in that neighbourhood could also cart in garbage to have it quietly disposed of.

On Binny Road in Egmore, garbage is regularly dumped by the side of the Cooum, at the end of the pedestrian walkway on the bridge. 

Similarly, a patch by the side of Adyar river below Thiru Vi Ka Bridge in Adyar is targeted by litterbugs. 

WRD communicates such vulnerable garbage dumping points around waterways to Greater Chennai Corporation; and reportedly, it sends this communication through Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust.