Chembarambakkam Lake, Kanchipuram

Chembarambakkam Lake, Kanchipuram

Chembarambakkam Lake is a lake located near Chennai in Kanchipuram district of Tamilnadu, India, about 40 km from Chennai. It is one of the two rain-fed reservoirs from where water is drawn for supply to Chennai City, the other one being the Puzhal Lake. The Adyar River originates from this lake. A part of water supply of the metropolis of Chennai is drawn from this lake. Chembarambakkam was known as Puliyur Kottam.

It is one of the 24 kottams (villages) that existed even during the later Chola period in Thondai Mandalam which had Kanchipuram as its headquarters. The Full Tank Level is 85.40 ft. (26.03 m). The Full Capacity (mcft) of the lake is 3,645 million ft³ (108million m³). The Level of the tank in feet is 75.60 ft. (23.04 m). However, acute sedimentation has eaten more than 40% of its water holding strength. There is an ancient Shiva temple located here.

There are two pipelines existing from the lake's water treatment plant. The existing pipeline on Poonamallee Bypass Road has the capacity to convey only half of the 530 million litres that can be treated at the plant. In 2012, Chennai Metro water started evaluating the feasibility of laying a third pipeline with a diameter of about 2,000 mm from the Chembarambakkam water treatment plant at a cost of ₹ 650million, which will run parallel to the existing one for over 6.5 km.