Paruthipattu Lake, also known as Avadi Lake, is a lake in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is located in the

Avadi Avadi () is a city Located within the Chennai metropolitan area, Its the headquarters of Avadi Police, Avadi City Police, Avadi City Municipal Corporation, Avadi City Corporation and Avadi taluk, Avadi Taluk located within the Thiruvallur dist ...

locality of Chennai. It is the second eco-park in the city after Chetput Lake.

History

The lake remained one of the neglected waterbodies in the western suburbs for long, shrinking to . In 2018, the Water Resources Department restored the lake at a cost of 280 million in two phases, developing it into an eco-tourism spot. The lake eco-park was opened to public on 21 June 2019. The renovation involved relocation of approximately 500 people.

Lake

Avadi Lake lies right behind the

Tamil Nadu Housing Board Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) () is a government organisation in Tamil Nadu, India. History Formed in 1947 as a small organisation in the name of "City Improvement Trust" in order to cater to the housing needs of Madras City, the trust has de ...

(TNHB) and

Thirumullaivoyal Thirumullaivoyal is a western neighbourhood of Chennai the capital of the India state of Tamil Nadu, under Avadi City Municipal Corporation Limits. It is located in the Chennai Metropolitan Area in Thiruvallur district, from Avadi and from A ...

. This lake is of length of 2.64 kilometers and covers an area of 8 acres before the restoration. It is mostly known to have never dried up in many years. This lake has supposedly been a source of water for cultivation of farm lands long before. The water body attracts many birds during various seasons. The lake is fed by surplus water from the unpolluted stretch of the

Cooum River The Cooum River, or simply Koovam, is one of the shortest classified rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This river is about in length, flowing in the city of Chennai (urban part) and the rest in rural part. The river is highly polluted ...

. The lake serves as a source for groundwater recharge in the neighbouring areas, such as Adhiparasakthi Nagar and Govardhanagiri. The average depth is 12 feet. However, in recent decades the lake has lost most of its area to indiscriminate building and encroachment. These are the major problems at present, since the water of the monsoon showers moves inside of the buildings as they are in the area of the lake.

Restoration

The eco-park surrounding the lake consists of a 3-km-long walking track, children's play area, refreshment block, a central plaza for public gathering, a boat deck with three landing areas, a couple of islands for nesting birds, an open-air theatre, an administration office building, and vehicle parking lot. About 35 varieties of plants have been planted around the lake. A sewage treatment plant has been built on the shore at a cost of 350 million to treat sewage from the Avadi municipality. The facility will pump 10 million litres of recycled water into the lake, besides selling an equal amount of water for industrial use.

References

{{Hydrography of Chennai Lakes of Chennai

History

Lake

Restoration

See also

References