The Storm Water Drain department of Greater Chennai Corporation is responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of Storm Water Drains in Chennai City. The maintenance responsibility is split between the Head Office and the 15 Zones of Chennai Corporation.
How Often are the Storm Water Drains De-Silted?
The Drains are desilted in 2 cycles between August to October. This is done before the the onset of the North East Monsoon. It must be noted that Chennai gets most of its annual rainfall (80%) from the North East Monsoon.
What are the Various Stages in Desilting of Storm Water Drains?
Step 1 – Desilting
The drain are desilted either manually or mechanically. In most cases the storm water is desilted from Manhole to Manhole. Thereby offering 100% coverage through the entire length of the storm water drains.
Step 2 – Packing
The silt is removed and packed in gunny bags or cloth bags as the case maybe. These bags are tied immediately to prevent mixing and flowing into the drain immediately.
Step 3 – Transporting
The packed gunny bags are transported to designated dumping locations. Currently some of the identified dumping grounds are Perungudi Dump Yard and Kodungaiyur Dump Yard.
Step 4 – Weighing & Dumping
All the weight dumped is weighed.
What are the Precautions Taken?
About 25% of weight is subtracted from the final weight to account for silt shrinkage. This shrinkage is largely to account for the moisture content in the silt at the time of Collection.
How to Find if my Storm Water Drain is Desilted or Not?
If you have any doubt if the storm water drain is desilted or not, please talk to the Assistant Engineer of your ward or division. Or you can reach out to 1913 or the Storm Water Drain Department situated in the 5th Floor of Amma Maligain in Ripon Building Complex.
Who Manages the Silt?
The Silt as mentioned earlier is manages by the Storm Water Drain department. The Storm Water Drain Department is headed by a Chief Engineer who is currently Mr L Nandakumar. The department comes under the Works Department headed by a Deputy Commissioner who is currently Mr Mantri Govinda Rao IAS. The works department comes under directly under the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation who is currently Mr Prakash IAS. Both the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner Works are from the prestigious Indian Administrative Services.
