The Otteri Nullah is an east–west waterway which runs through north
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, starting at the village of
Mullam proceeding through
Purasawalkam
Purasawakkam, also known as Purasaiwakkam or Purasai / Purasawalkam, is a residential shopping area in the district of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is close to the Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore railway stations.
Etymo ...
and then passing through
Buckingham and Carnatic Mills before meeting the
Buckingham Canal
The Buckingham Canal is a -long fresh water navigation canal, that parallels the Coromandel Coast of South India from Kakinada City in the Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh to Viluppuram District in Tamil Nadu. The canal connects most ...
at
Basin Bridge
Basin Bridge Junction is a station on the Chennai Suburban Railway and serves the locality of Basin Bridge, the confluence on the Otteri Nullah and Buckingham Canal, in Chennai, India. The station is located at the southern end of the 'diamo ...
.
The waterway is around 12 km in length with a catchment area of 38.40 square kilometres. It is the major outlet for rainwater in North Chennai. Along with the other major waterways of Chennai, the water remains heavily polluted in spite of many government efforts to clean it up over the years, including the relocation of many thousands of people from its banks since the year 2000.
Heavy rains in late 2005 caused the stream to flood, leading to extensive inundation into the surrounding areas of polluted water and a subsequent outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting. In the wake of the floods, the local administration began investigations into widening the stream to prevent recurrence of such problems in the future.
In 2010, it was announced that Hydrological digital instruments would be installed along the Otteri Nullah to monitor rainfall.
In 2011, the Public Works Department announced that it had started work on desilting the water body.
References
Geography of Chennai
Waterways in India
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