Geo-environmental Assessment of South Chennai Megacity Lakes

In the region of South Chennai, the multidimensional nature of anthropogenic activities have caused immense pressure on the water quality and quantity of lakes present in this region. Due to rapid urbanization in the region, settlements swallowed major part of the land area in the region and the transformations of land use classifications have a direct impact on the surface area reduction in majority of lakes. As the unplanned and rapid urbanization warranted the demand for settlement, the most comfortable area of development is near the water resources and hence the catchment area and even the lake area are being continuously occupied by the settlements as well as by other developmental activities. Such anthropogenic activities have colossal impact on the water quality as the huge quantum of domestic effluents and solid waste generated from the new and rapid settlements in the region could not be easily be managed by the concerned authorities. Keeping in view of the vitality of the complex nature of issues in the region, South Chennai has been chosen as the study area. The region lies between 80° 06¿ and 80° 14¿ East latitude and 12° 55¿ and 12° 59¿ North longitude.