Evaluating the Functioning Mechanisms of ‘TANK Systems’ in Peri-Urban Areas of Chennai, India—Land Use Change as the Determinant

Abstract

Ensuring the sustenance of water resources that act as sources of water for cities threatened by urbanization and developmental pressures is a crucial problem in peri-urban areas. The objective of this research was to establish the role of change in agricultural land use as a determinant in the evaluation of the existing water management system and to ascertain whether the control by the government or community management can be effective in ensuring the sustenance of water resources in peri-urban areas. The cases selected for the study were the water management systems present in two villages located in the peri-urban areas of Chennai, India. This research adopted a case study strategy with mixed methods of analyses. The analysis traces trajectories of change in the land use of agricultural lands and the common lands related to water management through methods, trend analysis, analysis of spatial patterns of change and the changes in the components of the community management. Results from the analysis indicated that under the context of intensive change from agricultural to nonagricultural land uses, the interlinkages within the traditional community management model had broken up, making community control improbable. The current management model of the government was also found to be inadequate. Results indicated that government agencies with trained personnel engaged in periodic maintenance activities, constant monitoring against encroachment, and pollution, and through the formation of user associations under their control can ensure the sustenance of water resources.

Urban Eris: Water body transformation in peri-urban Chennai, South India

“…a river basin or the urban water supply system (Butterworth et al, 2007;Mudgal, 2014, 2012;Vaidyanathan and Saravanan, 2006) . Only a few studies are centred on peri-urban eris around Chennai, which have resulted in a water body protection index for eris (Sudha et al, 2013), add to the integrated water resource management (IWRM) perspective (Hemamalini et al, 2015) or to the relation between peri-urban land use change, community maintenance structures and eri functioning mechanisms (Ramakrishnan Harishankar and Vedamuthu, 2019). In the past decades peri-urbanisation has gained prominence in the scientific discourse and produced numerous frameworks, theories and studies.…”

“…Furthermore, the VAO informs the public in case of disaster and involves higher official if law and order issues arise (GoTN, 2022a). The Revenue Department of the state has ownership over eris (Ramakrishnan Harishankar and Vedamuthu, 2019).…”

“…To set the scene for the following analyses, Chennai's growth and the evolution of its periurban shall receive attention with a special focus on administrative setup and planning challenges. Eris in peri-urban areas have recently gained attention to relieve the city from water stress for both, water retention to reduce urban flood risk as well as drinking water to ease water scarcity in the city (Anuradha et al, 2009;Ramakrishnan Harishankar and Vedamuthu, 2019;Sharmila et al, 2015;Suriya and Mudgal, 2014). A prominent example for this is Chembarambakkam Reservoir, which was a rural eri with its own irrigation area in the past.…”

“…As global climate change and local urbanisation processes meet, Chennai is increasingly affected by water scarcity, unprecedented floods, groundwater deterioration, urban heat effects and sea level rise (Arabindoo, 2016;CAG et al, n.d.;Corporation of Chennai et al, 2019;Srinivasan et al, 2017). Peri-urban eri systems have received attention in press, civic action, planning frameworks and scientific research to assess and plan on their potential for mitigating water hazards (Corporation of Chennai et al, 2019;Harishankar and Vedamuthu, 2019;Lakshmi, 2013;Mariappan, 2018;Ravishankar, 2019;Venkatachalam and Balooni, 2018). Periurban transformation of eris and their landscape is the main research interest of this work to understand the complexity of peri-urbanisation with its ecological, social and political dynamics.…”

Rejuvenation of Traditional Water Harvesting System in the Drought Prone Region of Tamil Nadu

“…In the few parts of the country, efforts have been initiated to revive and restore similar TWHS [4] [6]. Further, there have been attempts made to study and document the water harvesting systems in detail [7].…”