How to stop another 'Day Zero'

Madras Terrace, a local architecture firm, is one of the partners in the project, and intends to focus on restoring the historic temple reservoirs. "Temple tanks are barometers of the water table in a locality," says Sudheendra NK, director of Madras Terrace. So far, the city's municipal authority has restored 15 of the city's temple tanks, but Sudheendra wants to go much further.

As well as the temple tanks, the Madras Terrace team intends to raise the water table by collecting treated wastewater from buildings through vegetated ditches, called bioswales. Beginning in the neighbourhood of Mylapore, the bioswales would be placed strategically along streets, in backyards and hotel grounds. A pilot project is being conducted in a local school, though its progress has been hampered by the pandemic.

A wetland’s roles are many and varied, from storing surface water, to recharging groundwater and providing a habitat for dwindling wildlife. The incentives to save Chennai's wetlands – as a buffer to the floods and droughts predicted to worsen in India – are clear. Yet given the decimation of the wetlands in the city's recent history, it remains a vast challenge to restore them to the extent that they can keep taps running in the city.

But Care Earth Trust founder Vencatesan has not lost hope. Progress is steady – the Chennai Municipal Corporation has prioritised 200 wetland sites for restoration, working with organisations including the Nature Conservancy and Care Earth Trust. And Vencatesan in particular is not one to be daunted by such a feat. "When I started working on the Pallikaranai Marsh, many people dissuaded me saying it was of no use or relevance," says Vencatesan. "Today it's a benchmark for wetland restoration not only in India but globally."

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