Rivers,Canals,Lakes,Sea Coast
The Capital City is intersected by two river flows, The Cooum River flows in the heart of city,in the central region of Chennai dividing the region into two and the Adyar River divides the southern half of the city into two. Both rivers have become highly polluted with effluents, domestic and industrial wastes being regularly discharged into it. The Adyar, which is much less polluted than the Cooum, is de-silted and cleaned periodically. A protected estuary of the Adyar forms the natural habitat of several species of birds and animals.The river has no commercial importance, but the fishermen in the neighbourhood make their living by fishing in the river.
The Buckingham Canal, 4 km (3 miles) inland, runs parallel to the coast,linking the two rivers.This canal runs almost parallel to the Coromandal coast within the limits of 5 kms. from the coast.It joins up a series of natural backwaters and connects all the coastal districts.The other canal mentoring the city is the Otteri Nullah, an east-west stream runs through north Chennai and meets the Buckingham Canal at Basin Bridge.
Several lakes are located on the western fringes of the city. Red Hills, Sholavaram and Chembarambakkam Lake supply Chennai with potable water. Groundwater sources are mostly brackish. The city's water supply is inadequate to meet the requirement of the population, and an over-reliance on annual monsoon rains to replenish water reservoirs has compounded problems. There have been some attempts to pipe in water from other sources, such as the Veeranam, a water-rich place in Tamil Nadu and from the Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh. Alternative measures such as reverse osmosis and rainwater harvesting have been taken up to meet the ever increasing demand for water. Chennai Metro water has currently finalized a proposal to construct a reverse osmosis plant with a capacity of 100 million litres per day (about 15 litres per person per day).
Chennai has 25.60 kms. of sea coast which is flat and sandy for about a km. from the shore. The bed of the sea is about 42' deep and slopes further in gradual stages for a distance of about 5 kms. from the coast attaining a depth of about 63'.