Chennai city was, till the late 1980s, dotted with beautiful, clean lakes surrounded by greenery. The extent of such water bodies has fallen drastically in the last two decades, with some of them disappearing altogether. To blame is the rampant and unplanned urban sprawl, the onslaught of the real estate industry, indiscriminate garbage and sewage dumping, and encroachments.

This has resulted not only in the loss of precious biodiversity and rare natural spaces that communities can claim as their own commons, but also a rapid deterioration in water quality, as copious fresh water is replaced by hard, salty water in households across the city.

The Perungudi Lake, in south Chennai, is a 50-acre water body located near Chennai’s IT corridor, Rajiv Gandhi Salai. It is one of the few protected lakes of Chennai with a survival back story to it. This lake is the heart of Perungudi, pumping fresh water across its aquifers and recharging ground water in the nearby areas.

Some 30 years ago, the naturally formed lake was a major irrigation source for the surrounding agricultural lands. All of that changed when the city started expanding rapidly in the early 1990s. Perungudi, a village, was transformed into something of a satellite city with the IT sector booming and residential colonies mushrooming in the area.

Shaju John, a well-known photojournalist and advocate for the environment, has been documenting the lake since 2000, and has played a key role in striving to rejuvenate the devastated water body. Several local residents’ associations, such as those of Kurinji Nagar and Ramapanagar, banded together to make this a concerted effort. The then president of Ramapanagar Residents association, Mr Pius Joseph, a retired Railway officer, put in considerable effort to get permission from the Collector, Kancheepuram District to develop the lake.

A survey of water bodies was undertaken between Perungudi and Tambaram in south Chennai to assess the impact of deepening some of the lakes in the region. The then Panchayat president in the Perungudi area was asked to organise deepening of the lake for greater storage of rain water, based on instructions from the Collector of Kancheepuram. The Lake was deepened twice, in 2003 and 2005, up to a depth of 30-35 feet. The North-East monsoon of 2005 brought heavy rains, and the lake brimmed and overflowed.

The urbanisation boom, however, saw the influx of construction workers and increased numbers of residents in new apartment blocks. Alongside, the slum areas also grew, and this resulted in open defecation along the shore of the lake, and dumping of garbage, mainly plastic wastes. People started using the lake to wash clothes and vehicles, and chemical pollutants entering the water became an unbearable sight for the residents who had fought so hard to clean up and desilt the lake.

Without realising the depth of the water, many newcomers and visitors jumped into the lake for a swim, as there were no barriers restricting them. There were numerous drowning deaths, especially of youngsters, during 2005 and 2006.

The frequent news coverage about the lake in major newspapers caught the attention of government officials. Shaju presented his visual documentation on the lake and its surroundings to the then PWD Secretary and explained the background to the issue, supported with photographs he had taken between 2002 and 2007. The PWD Secretary immediately took measures and, on his orders, a protection wall was built around the lake. This helped prevent any further deaths by drowning.

As a result of continuous pumping, the lake used to dry up fully in the summers. The surrounding areas began to be used for open defecation again, and migrant workers and some residents of nearby colonies had started dumping waste in it.

Residents associations of the localities around Perungudi Lake, such as Kamarajnar, Kurinjinagar, Telephonenagar and Ramappanagar, joined together to form a federation of residents associations, called PLANET (Perungudi Lake Area Neighbourhood Environment Transformation) to tackle the various issues relating to the lake and the environment. PLANET team undertook a clean-up of the lake and the space around it, and focused on networking to ensure the water body’s sustained protection.

PLANET, a registered association expanded its weekly activities such as tree planting and its maintenance began creating a wider awareness among residents and resulting in a decrease in waste being disposed in the lake’s environs. Over time, people living around the lake were witness to groups of morning walkers making it their mission to stop people from using the water body as a public toilet.

Though the 2015 floods wrought destruction and damage in large parts of Chennai, they had no drastic effect in the Perungudi area, as the lake withstood the calamity, reaching its full capacity during the floods. To celebrate this, PLANET’s members conducted a unique Lake festival, called The Perungudi Lake Festival (PLF) in 2016. It was India’s first ever lake festival conducted to protect and create awareness on water bodies. This was done in a fun way, roping in school and college students and addressing serious conservation issues through day-long activities, such as painting, photography and essay competitions, rangoli exhibits, folk art and dance performances, and short skits. The Festival aimed to educate and motivate young people through these events and make them aware that they could be future water warriors and role models to the general public in such successful conservation efforts. A visual narrative showcasing the transformation of the lake over a period of 15 years as a result of sustained efforts by the residents was a prominent display in PLF 2016. The PLF highlighted the serious degradation of lakes and rivers in the city, and raised awareness of the many possibilities to reverse such damage.

The PLF has been conducted for three years so far, and has been a great motivating force in achieving the goals of maintaining an important water resource and keeping the issue alive in people’s minds. The graffiti (wall art) competition, held in 2018, continues to remind people of the importance of such efforts as they pause on their walks to admire the beauty of the paintings by young people alongside the walls around the lake, and the simple yet powerful message they convey of safeguarding Nature in all its forms.

PLANET’s members persist with their efforts to beautify and green the environment of Perungudi with the support of Government agencies. Residents are concerned when new office-bearers take over at the Chennai Corporation, Metrowater or PWD offices, and make arbitrary changes or launch new projects without knowing the topography and history of the lake and the surrounding areas. This is an area that residents will continue to prioritise and address as part of their commitment to sustaining and protecting the biodiversity around them.