Tamil Nadu has roped in the Centre for Environmental Studies of the Anna University to conduct “sediment analysis” of 100 wetlands in the State, the Additional Principal Chief Conservator and Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority, Deepak Srivastava said here on Tuesday.

Speaking at the release of a report on the restoration of the Sembakkam lake located in Chennai, Srivastava said that Tamil Nadu wanted to “see what is there in the soil and sediments” in the State’s wetlands. The report was prepared by the environmental advocacy body The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Benefits of study

The study would reveal how much of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide lie embedded in soil and sediments.

“We don’t have data on how much carbon is stored in the soil and sediments,” Srivastava said.

Armed with data from the study, whenever restoration work such as that of the Sembakkam lake happens, the State would “tap the carbon credit market”, he said.

The Sembakkam lake, also known as Hastinapuram lake, is a manmade wetland forming part of 34 network of wetlands connected through the cascading system of seven lakes to the Pallikaaranai marshland in the city.

Eye on carbon credit market
Deepak Srivastava, Additional Principal Chief Conservator and Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority talks about the wetland sediment analysis studyVideo Credit: M Ramesh

The marshland stretches over 694 hectares and has a ‘protected’ status as notified by the Central government “for its unique combination of both inland and brackish water ecosystems that serve as home to a large number of native and migratory birds,” the report says.

The Sembakkam lake has spread over 39.8 hectares. Before TNC took up its restoration in 2018, it was a dying lake clogged with dumped city waste and water hyacinth.

The report says that 1,00,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the lake, which resulted in 36 per cent increase in its water storage capacity. Annual groundwater recharge by 50,000 cubic meters and flood mitigation capacity are other benefits of the restoration.

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