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Pulhal Lake, or Pulhal Aeri, sometimes spelled Puzhal lake and also known as the Red Hills Lake, is located in Red Hills,
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 ...
,
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 lies in
Thiruvallur district Thiruvallur District, also spelled as Tiruvallur District, is one of the 38 districts (an administrative district) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The fast developing city of Tiruvallur is the district headquarters. The district has a mixture ...
of
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 ...
state. It is one of the two rain-fed reservoirs that supply water to Chennai City, the other one being the Chembarambakkam Lake and
Porur Lake Porur Lake is located on the fringes of the Porur neighbourhood in south-west Chennai and is a primary water resource for the residents of Chennai. It is a temporary catchment area connected with Chembarambakkam Lake. It is spread over 200 acr ...
. The full capacity of the lake is 3,300 million ft3 (3.3 Tmc ft or 93446 million litres).


History

The Pulhal reservoir was built in 1876 during the
British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...
in Pulhal,
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 ...
(named Madras at the time). The reservoir was originally a small tank with a capacity of 500 million cubic feet (mcft) and two masonry weirs, built using locally available laterite stones, then functioned as surplus weirs to release excess water from the water body. Today, these masonry weirs are water-retaining structures as they have been replaced by two shutters. In 1997, the storage capacity of the water reservoir was increased to 3,300 mcft and the depth to 21.20 ft to cater to the drinking water needs of Chennai and also to store
Penna river Penna (also known as Pinakini, Penneru, Penner, Pennar, Pennai) is a river of southern India. After originating from Nandi hills, it flows as two different streams, one in North and South directions. The Penna rises in the Nandi Hills, India, ...
water received from
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
through
Poondi Reservoir ''Sathyamoorthy Saagar'', also known as Poondy Reservoir, is the reservoir constructed across Kosasthalaiyar River, ''Kotralai'' (alias) ''Kosasthalai'' River in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu state in India. It acts as the important drinking ...
and the Sholavaram Tank. Until 2012, the Water Resources Department (WRD) has only taken up maintenance work worth of 500,000 every year.


Geography

There are two masonry weirs in the reservoir. One
weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
is 178 m long and the other is 220 m long and 15 ft deep. The bund measures 5 m and runs to a distance of 7 km. The
weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
s have turned porous over the years. The south west part of the reservoir has
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 ...
,
Ambattur Ambattur is a northwestern part of Chennai, India. It is located in Ambattur taluk of the Chennai District, surrounded by Avadi, Anna Nagar, Korattur, Padi, Mogappair, Kallikuppam, Surapet, Ayappakkam, Athipet and Thiruverkadu. It c ...
residential locality and has the main road to reach Avadi junction. Water treatment plant and Pulhal Central prison is located in the east part of the reservoir and has the highway road to reach CMBT and North Chennai. The North part has Padiyanallur village Thiruvallur koot road en route to reach
Thiruvallur Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai ( Madras) in the western part of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA). It is a satellite tow ...
. There are two ways reservoir's bund road routes are located north east part of the reservoir, one bund route is from Alamaram junction to Redhills market junction and the other one bund road is from Redhills bypass road junction to Surapet junction. The North west part has Pammathukulam, Pothur, Attanthangal and Naravarikuppam villages.


Jones Tower

Jones Tower was built in 1881 in Pulhal lake. It is used to measure the depth of the lake water level. The surrounding bund roads are used by many for exercises such as walking, running. High level Electric motors are used to inlet the water from the lake to the tank before the cleaning process. There are 11 Electric motor pumps located play an important role when the dry season is available for providing drinking water to the Chennai city.


Water Seepage

During the heavy rainfall in November/December 2015 water seepage occurred on 19 November 2015 on the two places of Pulhal lake near the weirs due to heavy storage in the water reservoir .


Upgradation


2012 : Repairing process

In June 2012, the WRD called for a tender for strengthening the reservoir at a cost of 101.6 million. Besides small repair to the shutters, filter arrangements on the slope of the bund will be made for 2 km. The road on top of the bund will also be widened by 1 m. The water level of the reservoir has been brought down to 10.46 ft to take up the project. The water body receives 300 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from Poondi canal to supply to the city.


2015 : Heavy Rainfall November/December

According to Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewage board on 14 November 2015 rainfall in Pulhal reservoir has a storage of 2,228 million cubic feet as against its total capacity of 3,300 mcft and receiving an inflow of 1,196 cubic feet per second. Pulhal has lowest storage among the four reservoirs with 67.5 per cent of its capacity. On 1 December 2015 Pulhal also recorded 320mm, the highest volume of rainfall flowing overnight rain in the history. Discharge from the lake and maintain the water level two feet below the full level of 21.2 feet. Sand bags have also been placed in vulnerable areas along the surplus course such as Thandalkazhani, Vadakarai and Thiruneelakandan Nagar and Baba Nagar in Pulhal. People have also been warned of inundation. The surplus course of Red Hills travels for 15 km before joining the sea near Ennore creek. On 2 December 2015 Pulhal lake has recorded water inflow of 9607(cusecs) and outflow of 5470(cusecs), Which was the highest inflow and outflow of reservoir's history.


Gallery

File:Puzhalshutters.jpg, Two shutters has been opened when the lake has reached full capacity File:Jonestowerdry.jpg, Pulhal lake has low water level due to the presence of dry season File:Puzhal Fisherman.jpg, Split islands has been seen on the middle of the Pulhal lake File:Puzhal krishna river water project.jpg, Pulhal Krishna river water project display in the outer portion of the lake File:Puzhal krishna river water project display in the outer portion of the lake.jpg, Electric motors are used to outlet the water in Pulhal lake.


See also

* Chembarambakkam Lake * Sholavaram tank *
Poondi Reservoir ''Sathyamoorthy Saagar'', also known as Poondy Reservoir, is the reservoir constructed across Kosasthalaiyar River, ''Kotralai'' (alias) ''Kosasthalai'' River in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu state in India. It acts as the important drinking ...
*
Water management in Chennai The coastal city of Chennai has a metropolitan population of 10.6 million as per 2019 census. As the city lacks a perennial water source, catering the water requirements of the population has remained an arduous task. On 18 June 2019, the city's r ...


References

{{Hydrography of Chennai Lakes of Chennai Reservoirs in Tamil Nadu