Sithalapakkam Lake (Waterbodies of Chennai - 57)

Sithalapakkam is a locality near Tambaram in South Chennai, which is lucky to have surrounded by many lakes and hills. The lake that is located precisely in this village is called Sithalapakkam Lake. It covers an area of around 230 acres. Rare birds used to visit this lake. The sight of birds has become rare thanks to fast urbanization and poor maintenance. Though the lake is comparatively cleaner and has water, it is not because of any steps taken by the Government. In fact, if the Government takes appropriate steps to stop the locals from throwing garbage on its banks and removing hyacinths, it would live as a picturesque lake of the city.

Happy travelling.

Note: As per a report, there were about 650+ waterbodies in the Chennai region till the 1980s. Today, only a fraction of them exist. And most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water, and even some of them that have water have been poorly shrunk. In Chennai, there are tank roads without tanks nearby and lake-view roads without lakes. There is a high possibility that even the few waterbodies we have today might vanish soon. I decided to visit the currently surviving waterbodies of Chennai and its suburbs and write about them in my blog as a series.