CMWSSB to rectify sewage drains

In order to prevent the overflow of sewage during rain, the Chennai Metro Water’s (CMWSSB) has undertaken a comprehensive citywide rectification project. The project, which would be jointly carried out with the city corporation, is intended to contain sewer discharge into stormwater drains. Chennai corporation identified around 1,000 such places where individual sewerage service connections running perpendicular to stormwater drains rupture and thereby discharge sewage into the drains. CMWSSB received a list of sewerage connections that require rectification. Metro was reported to have done an assessment and set a three-month deadline to arrest sewage discharge. CMWSSB wants to finish the repair ahead of the ensuing northeast monsoon that normally starts by mid October so that sewer overflow would not occur and floods would recede easily. Most of the 1,000 vulnerable areas involve individual residential service connections. The board may bear the cost in case of the poor households if the repair involves minor pipe replacement, which should be the case in most of the identified areas, reports indicate.