Namma Ooru! Namma Kulam!
The Art of Living is cleaning and rejuvenating 423 dirty and foul smelling water bodies in
Chennai, transforming them into fresh and beautiful spaces.
Many ponds in Chennai are extremely murky with plastics, bottles, metal containers, clothes, footwear
and other non-degradable waste clogging them to the brim. The stagnant water and foul smell
emanating from the ponds pose a serious threat to aquatic life and the environment around. With the
situation getting worse by the day, it was imperative to begin the cleaning process at the earliest.
Things started changing when The Art of Living stepping in to take on the mammoth task of
rejuvenating the water bodies.
The First Step in the Journey
On May 2017, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar visited Chennai and announced the launch of a Pond
Cleaning program. The project aims to clean and rejuvenate the ponds every fortnight by de-silting
and strengthening their bunds, removing solid waste from the water, planting trees and reaching out
to the community through specific engagements and social media.
Given the geographical spread and nature of tasks to be performed, the team reached out to its
volunteer base across Chennai, and soon had more than 150 volunteers joining them and actively
participating in the cleaning activities.
At the start, a comprehensive survey of the ponds managed by the Corporation was carried out.
Leveraging technologies, including Kobo Toolbox, Edmonto and Google Maps, the survey captured
the pond coordinates, actual size and depth of water in pond, extent of encroachment, pollution and
types of pollutants, amongst others.
The work started with 5 ponds of in Sholinganallur Zone Corporation and a Temple Tank in
Thoraipakkam. The results from the 1st cleaning project brought forth encouraging results with key
water quality parameters like Bio-Chemical Oxygen on Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen on Demand
(COD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) showing an improvement by 50% or more.
Planting Trees to Strengthen Pond Bunds
To create a sustainable ecosystem, strengthening the pond bunds is important. Keeping this in mind
and to increase the green cover, The Art of Living is planting tree saplings along the pond bund and its
surrounding areas. On August 5th, 125 volunteers planted 500 Saplings of water-friendly and shade
providing trees such as Marudhu, Pungan, Naval and Redwood.
Student Volunteers Join Us
On Independence Day, the team cleaned 1 lake, 2 ponds and 2 temple tanks across Chennai. Student
volunteers from SRM, Ramapuram and IIT Madras also joined the team to help clean the ponds.
Community Participation
Rejuvenation and creating a sustainable environment is an ongoing process. Thus, to create awareness
of environment deterioration and sensitizing the society’s duty to protect it, The Art of Living regularly
engages with local community with rallies and awareness walks, theme based cultural events, social
media campaigns and training public for water treatment and other cleaning programs.
The Art of Living is working towards a sustainable healthy environment for the citizens and everyone
is welcome to participate in the project.
