Sea of waste engulfs city coastline

Tides wash up unprecedented tonnes of garbage along beaches, unchecked dumping in river systems blamed

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @Chennai

WHILE cyclone Montha may have spared Chennai from its fury, the rough seas and heavy inflow through the Adyar river have unleashed another kind of disaster -tonnes of plastic waste choking the city's coastline. From Srinivasapuram and Pattinapakkam to the Marina, beaches are now carpeted with single-use plastics, liquor bottles, broken thermocol, and dense mats of water hyacinth, turning the once-lively stretch into a grim tableau of urban neglect.

When TNIE visited the Adyar estuary on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, heaps of waste lay piled along the shore, deposited overnight by the outgoing tide. The sheer volume of debris, residents say, is unprecedented and a direct consequence of years of unchecked dumping into stormwater drains and river systems that eventually discharge into the Adyar.