Adyar River

The Adyar starts from the Malaipattu tank (80.00° longitude and 12.93° latitude) near Manimangalam in Sriperumbudur taluk at about west of Tambaram in south Chennai. It begins to resemble a stream only from the point where water released from Chembarambakkam Lake joins the river at Thiruneermalai. It flows through Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chennai districts for about before joining the Bay of Bengal in Adyar, Chennai. Here it forms an estuary, which extends from Adyar Bridge to the sandbar at the edge of the sea, with some small islets in between. The estuary attracts a wide variety of birds. The estuary covering an area of about was made a protected wildlife reserve in 1987. The river forms a backwater near the mouth, known as the Adyar creek, due to the formation of sand bar at the mouth. This creek is a natural channel which carries tidal water back into the sea. == Geography ==

The river has varying depth of approximately in its upper reaches and in its lower reaches. The catchment area of the river is . Bed width ranges from . It flows for in the Chennai Metropolitan Area including about within the Chennai district before draining into the sea. It discharges about water annually to the Bay of Bengal. The discharge is seasonal with about 7 to 33 times more than the annual average during the Northeast monsoon season between September and December. The river is also supplied by surplus water from about 40 ponds. The present discharge of the river is 39,000 cu.ft/s whereas the anticipated flood discharge capacity is about 60,000 cubic feet per second. During the floods of 2005, the river had a discharge of 55,000 cubic feet per second. == Ecology ==

Adyar Estuary and Creek and the Theososphical Society on the Estuary's southern side has been a haven for migratory and resident birds for years. The environmental conditions in the estuary with low salinity, good shelters and high plankton availability in the Adyar creek serves as a good nursery for fish. The flow of tidal water in and out of the creek allowed for easy travel of boats. It therefore encouraged fishing and there was a thriving economy of fish trade here. However, with the city's sewage and effluence from its various industries, for some time, emptying into the river, the biological activities in the region was affected. Although the number has been in decline due to pollution and anthropogenic activities, they still attract hundreds of birds. A few years before, the Theosophical Society has come out with a CD on 'Birds of Adyar', compiled by the Trust for Environment Monitoring and Action Initiation. The Adyar Poonga, whose Phase 1 and 2 stand completed (as of 2015), are a first towards restoring this fragile but vibrant eco-system. Efforts were being made by the AIADMK government to close sewage inlets, free the flood banks from encroachments, and replant native varieties of trees after cordoning of the river, to prevent further illegal occupation since the Chennai Floods of 2015 and have been reasonably successful. == Landmarks ==

The Theosophical Society, Anna University, Madras Boat Club, Thenral are prominent institutions located in the banks of Adyar. Adayar river crosses 6 line Outer Ring Road landmark of Royappa nagar And JJ Nagar. == Contamination ==

The river receives a sizeable quantity of sewage from Chennai after reaching Nandambakkam near Chennai. The river is almost stagnant except during the rainy season. Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation have led to severe contamination. The problem of sedimentation was not severe as the Adyar's width near Thiru.Vi.Ka. Bridge is nearly that enabled tidal effect into the waterway for about . However, it was essential to provide groynes to keep the river mouth open for adequate width and prevent inundation during monsoon. In 2011, the Water Resources Department (WRD) proposed to construct groynes to reduce formation of sand bars near the mouth the river. ==Cleaning up==

In 2012, the state government allotted 3,000 million towards construction of 337 sewage cleaning systems in the waterways in the city, including 49 locations in the Adyar river. Others include 105 points in Cooum river and 183 locations in the Buckingham Canal. ==Bridges==

There are several bridges built across the river over the course of time. The Corporation of Chennai maintains about 6 of these bridges. • Broken bridge in Foreshore Estate • Eliphinstone Bridge in Adyar • Thiru Vi Ka Bridge in Adyar • Kotturpuram Bridge in Kotturpuram • Maramalai Adigalar Bridge in Saidapet • Abraham Bridge (replaced Alandur Causeway) in West Saidapet • Jafferkhanpet Bridge in Jafferkhanpet • Manapakkam Bridge in Manapakkam The Thiru Vi Ka Bridge was constructed at a cost of 5.8 million and was inaugurated in October 1973. The Elphinstone Bridge was constructed in the 1840s during the time of Lord Elphinstone, who was governor of Madras from 1837 to 1842 and was the first to connect south Madras to Santhome and Mylapore. Before its construction, there were no bridges across the Adyar river except the causeway then known as Marmalong Bridge. Parisals, which were round floats pushed by long poles, were the chief mode of transportation across the river, and there were several makeshift landing places on the banks of the river for carrying goods. Soon, the British found the area between Santhome and the river suitable for building their farmhouses. Further developments during the first half of the 19th century probably necessitated the building of a new bridge. The bridge was still in use during the time of inauguration of the Thiru Vi Ka bridge. The bridge was meant for other, slow-moving traffic across the river. The runways of Chennai International Airport were extended across the Adyar River. This contributed to the flooding of the airport during the 2015 South India floods. ==Encroachments==

The banks of the Adyar river flooded often due to uncontrolled and unchecked encroachments. However, ever since the devastating Chennai Floods of 2015, where 29,000 cusecs of water were estimated to have been released, purging everything in its path, the present AIADMK government, has made sustained efforts, to clean the river, with reasonable success - including cordon of its bank with a dedicated wall, remove encroachments from the Jaffarkhanpet End, till the mouth of the river near the Broken Bridge, along its flood banks, as well as regularly de-silt its sister channels, stormwater inlets and the river itself. ==Gallery==

File:The Adyar River, 1905.jpeg|The Adyar River, c. 1905 Image:Adyar in full flow.JPG|A flooded Adyar river ==See also==