Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Cholavaram Tank

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About 24km north of Chennai, Cholavaram Tank is one of the largest lakes around the city (following Puzhal, Sembarambakkam and Poondi) and the water from the rain-fed reservoir is drawn for the city supply, through canals to Puzhal Lake.

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During 2015 historical rain and flood, the Lake reached the maximum capacity of 595 (mcft) out of 881 (mcft) and on 1st December 2015, the lake had an inflow of 423 (cusecs) and an outflow of 400 (cusecs). But now, due to failure of Northeast Monsoon, the level of water has went nearly down and its bed has almost turned playground, as you could see from the photos above (and below) – some youngsters are playing cricket on the grasses.

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Apart lake, Cholavaram is primarily known for motor racing and racing events were conducted here from early 1960s to the late 1980s, before the Madras Motor Sports Club built a new track at Irungattukottai, near Sriperumbadur, Chennai. The race track near Cholavaram Lake was used to be an air strip during World War II and being a T shaped track it was modified to conduct racing on certain conditions. But having no idea where the race track was, I couldn’t check the place when visiting the lake on my way to Nagalapuram.

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Buffaloes grazing on dry bed of the tank/lake
I actually decided to climb on the lake bank road from the south and get down at other end in north, but I missed the road that comes next to the Nallur toll plaza on NH 16, and could only check the lake from the other end where the surplus weir exit. A red soil road comes around the lake partially and only bikes and cars can travel from one end to another. As per agreement with Andhra Pradesh Govt. the Krishna water release from Kandaleru reservoir, is stored in Cholavaram Lake as well as Poondi reservoir for drinking purpose. 

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Someone had got the car into the lake... but we had no time to experience such

11 comments:

Gosia said...

Interesting lake

George said...

Thanks for the photos and information about this lake. It's interesting that the site has had so many uses.

Sandi said...

Buffaloes! They are pretty rare here. I didn't know you had them there too.

Sandhya said...

Interesting! I am familiar with Cholavaram race....I didn't know about the lake. Hope we get some rains soon. Water table is coming down fast.

Destination Infinity said...

A scenic place to play seasonal cricket :P

Destination Infinity

Lady Fi said...

What lovely scenery.

Alok singhal said...

The lake looks very serene. I am sad the water level has dropped to such an extent...maybe some builder will build a high-rise there in decades to come!

Twilight Man said...

The lake is originally so huge! I could see the grass growing so fast when the lake's water level dropped.

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful lake, Jeevan. I hope you get rain soon so the water level rises.

Jenn Jilks said...

We're still under snow!

L. D. said...

It is so great you have such a water system to supply the city. I know hat rainfall always is out of sync sorties and drought causes worry.