Gaps in Spatial Planning of Water Resources Management for Metropolitan Areas: A Case Study of Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA)

Abstract

Urban wetlands such as ponds, lakes, canals, rivers are souls of an urban ecosystem. The explosive growth of
urban population and consequent spatial expansion of human settlements have brought about fundamental
changes to the physical landscape of urban environment and to the people's perception of land, water and other
elements of an urban environment. The decline in the geographical size, physical, chemical and biotic properties
of water bodies has affected urban ecosystems, biodiversity, aesthetics of the landscape and also household
economies. The process of degradation of water bodies and its adverse effect on local communities is particularly
visible in peri-urban belts where significant numbers of people are still engaged in water-dependent economic
occupations. The present paper provides the gaps in spatial planning where water resources management has not
been addressed properly for the metropolitan areas of Chennai city. The study was conducted on the water
bodies of Tambaram taluk. Six water bodies of Tambaram taluk that are located in the urban-rural gradient have
been studied in detail. The study design includes the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data. To
identify the land use changes during the urbanization process, satellite imageries were used to classify the land
use patterns during a span of three decades. Three sets of imageries acquired from 1987 to 2009 from Institute
of Water Studies, Taramani (Chennai) were used in the analysis. The study suggests that the area allocated for
residential and institutional spaces by Metropolitan Development Authority increased by 23.27% from 1971 to
2009, while areas allocated for water bodies has been almost negligible. The result shows that the area under water
in the Urban Velachery Lake has reduced drastically by 80.5% followed by peri-urban lakes Rajakeelpakkam
(69.8 %) and Pallikaranai (39.9%). In view of these facts, the study suggests that the water sector planning
should precede the master planning process of any urban agglomeration