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Water-Distribution Efforts in Madras: from Sailor George Baker (1750S) to Engineers John Jones, Hormusji Nowroji and James Madeley (1870S–1920S)

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Water-Distribution Efforts in Madras: from Sailor George Baker (1750S) to Engineers John Jones, Hormusji Nowroji and James Madeley (1870S–1920S) HISTORICAL NOTES Water-distribution efforts in Madras: from sailor George Baker (1750s) to engineers John Jones, Hormusji Nowroji and James Madeley (1870s–1920s) Anantanarayanan Raman and Natarajan Meenakshisundaram Madras (now Chennai) has been, and is, an acutely water-scarce city. Today the city’s landscape has un- dergone substantial changes losing many of its reservoirs. In this context, here we highlight the efforts made in distributing water to Madras residents from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries. In the 1770s, George Baker, a sailor, dug large wells in the ‘Seven Wells Street’. In the late 1860s, James Fraser (Madras Engi- neers Corps?) proposed to the Government at Fort St. George that the Kôsasŧalai river should be accessed for water for Madras and the water be stored in the now near-extinct Spur Tank. Kilpauk – about a kilometre away from the Spur Tank – was chosen, instead, because of cost. The Madras-Municipal Water Works (MMWW) at Kilpauk was formally launched in 1872. Although the Government of Madras owned the MMWW, the Corporation of Madras (CoM) retained the responsibility of day-to-day water distribution. In the 1880s, John Alfred Jones, executive engineer, CoM, improved the open channel that delivered water from the Red-Hills reservoir to Kilpauk. He proposed construction of filter beds in MMWW. In 1903, an Indian engineer Hormusji Nowroji from the Government service was seconded to CoM. During his stay with CoM until 1912, Nowroji worked on improving water distribution. He submitted a report to the Government, the Nowroji Report, untraceable today. James Madeley from Manchester, UK, was appointed as the Special Engineer to CoM, in-charge of drainage works. Because his position was equal to that of the Chief Engi- neer, Madeley is today credited for developing water distribution in Madras. This note refers to the scientif- ic water-works of Jones, Nowroji and Madeley. It also brings to light a controversy, not been spoken about previously. Nowroji has written in a British civil-engineering journal, The Surveyor (1915), challenging Madeley’s report published earlier in the same journal. From the early 1970s, the Government of Tamil Na- du (Government of Madras) has been making efforts to the improve water situation in Chennai bending over backwards. One effort was to bring water from the Veerãnam lake in Cuddalore district across c. 250 km. At present water from this reservoir meets most of Chennai’s requirements. Water in Madras ‘Fort St. George or Maderass (Ma- casional mention of Mylãpôre and Ŧirû- dras), or as the natives call it, China alli-k-kéni (presently suburbs of Chen- Madras (now Chennai; 13°5′N, 80°16′E) Patam (Chennai-p-pattinam), is a Co- nai) in the compositions of Nãyanãr-s has always been a water-scarce city1. lony and City (note 1) belonging to and Ãzhwãr-s (6th–10th centuries). This With an annual rainfall of 100–120 cm the English East-India Company, contrasts strongly with the abundantly during the northeast monsoon – mostly situated in one of the most incommo- cited Madurai (9°9′N, 78°1′E) and as cyclonic showers spread over a week dious Places I ever saw. …The Ŧanjãvûr (10°47′N, 79°8′E) in Tamil li- in October–November and with a popula- Foundation is in Sand, with a Salt- terature, because of their prosperity, en- tion of 8.2 million – this megalopolis (c. water River on its back side, which hanced by the rivers Vaigai and Kãvéri 420 km2) continues to experience acute obstructs all Springs of Fresh-water respectively. In 1644, the English East- water shortage. According to the Centre from coming near the Town, so that India Company (EEIC) built the Fort St for Water Resources, Anna University, they have no drinkable Water within George (hereafter, the Fort)4 for weird Chennai, the groundwater recharge of the a Mile (1.6 km) of them, the Sea of- reasons such as low cost of cotton city has declined sharply in the last five ten threatening Destruction on one fabric5. Water scarcity in Madras has decades because of rapid urbanization, Side, and the River in the rainy Sea- been formally recorded as early as 1779. with the natural and artificial water son Inundations on the other, the Sun Dialogues among prominent EEIC staff bodies being the principal victims. Re- from April to September scorching on the need to survey the landscape be- traction of natural rejuvenation of aqui- hot;…’. tween Madras and the Krishna–Godavari fers (https://www.annauniv.edu/Water- rivers took place to bring water from Resource/research.php, accessed on 10 Before the English traders Francis Day those rivers and to facilitate irrigation May 2020) is another reason. Further, the (1605–1673) and Andrew Cogan (c. and trade in the landscape inbetween6. geomorphology of Chennai permits limi- 1600–1660) arrived from Machilipatnam Long before the British arrived in the ted subsoil-water percolation2. (16°17′N, 81°13′E) in 1640 in this area, Madras landscape, the SE segment of Alexander Hamilton3, an English mer- which later grew as Madras, no reference peninsular India included several large chant, while travelling in Madras in the to this terrain occurs in the ancient and and small lakes, many interconnected 1690s, remarked (p. 358): medieval Tamil literature, except for oc- by flood canals. For example, the CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 120, NO. 3, 10 FEBRUARY 2021 575 HISTORICAL NOTES Madurãntakam lake (c. 1900 acres) in the along the Madras–Ennore coastline supply piped water to Madras residents Pãlãr catchment, built by Uŧŧama Çolã (r. (13°21′N, 80°32′E) was dug in 1803 for from the late 17th century to the early 7 970–985 AD, a. k. a. Madurãnŧakã Çolã) , trade and water transport. In 1878, this 20th century. By 1915, a well-designed enabled and continues to enable irriga- was extended to Kãkinãdã (16°57′N, water-supply project was established. tion of farmland in the vicinity. The 82°15′E, 670 km) and renamed the Buck- Çembarambãkkam lake (13°0′N, 80°3′E), ingham Canal after Richard Chandos (the 30.5 km SW of the Fort, holds about third Duke of Buckingham, Governor of Supply efforts, 1690–1750 100 M m3 of water. For more details of Madras). Details of commercial naviga- the extant and extinct lakes of Madras city tion in this Canal in the 19th century are Nathaniel Higginson (1652–1702), Pres- and the Presidency, see Amirthalingam8. available12. ident of the Council of Directors at the In the ancient and medieval Tamil Madras underwent many changes, Fort (≈ Governor), organized digging a country, agricultural lands were irrigated principally at the cost of its reservoirs channel connecting the Çembaram- by channels (vãi-k-kãl, Tamizh). A Middle- even 100 years ago (Figure 1 a and b). bãkkãm lake with the Fort (40 km), Eastern water-lifting technology (shaduf9, Another major change that occurred was bringing water to irrigate the paddy counterpoise lift, water crane) got intro- the degradation of the Cooum because of fields owned by EEIC along the outer duced into the Tamil country in medieval massive volumes of non-degradable- western edge of the Fort (note 2) in the times, which later acquired the name waste dumped into it. According to a 1690s. The Europeans living within the ‘étram’ (Tamil). ‘Kavalai’ (self-emptying 19th century Government of Madras Fort and elsewhere in the Presidency ob- bucket hoist) is similar to étram in func- report (ref. 13, p. 105): tained water from wells, rivers and tanks, tion, but pulled by a pair of bullocks to as did the Indians. In the early 1700s, draw water from the well. These devices ‘The Cooum: This river still contin- large timber–mud cisterns were used to were common in the rural Tamil country ues to be in the same insanitary and store water within the Fort. Paul Benfield until the late 1960s (ref. 10). unsatisfactory condition as in former (1741–1840; note 3), a building contrac- In Madras city (hereafter, Madras), the years. … The river Cooum, which tor, filled these cisterns with water trans- Cooum (Kûvam, Chintãdaripét, Tripli- ought to be an ornament and a bless- ported in bullock carts from the lakes cane rivers) and the Adayãru are extant. ing to Madras, is now only a source and wells outside the Fort14. In 1726, The Cooum is an embarrassing eyesore of disease, and the receptacle for the Stephen Newcombe, Surveyor of Works today, because of its poor management in sewage of about a third of the popu- erected a wind-powered water lift in the last two centuries11. The biological- lation.’ Fort St David, Cuddalore (11°75′N, oxygen demand (BOD) value of Cooum 79°75′E)15. Possibly, Newcombe used water (measured near the Napier Bridge, Water is a commodity of despair in the Dutch windmill technology to irrigate 13°06′88″N, 80°28′45″E) was 36 mg/l in Chennai. The present note records vari- the betel-leaf and tobacco farms around 2008 – an alarming indeed (https:// ous efforts made to procure water and Cuddalore (note 4). economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ environment/pollution/tns-cooum-river-80- dirtier-than-sewage/article-show/33826- 89.cms?from=mdr; accessed on 29 April 2020). Politicians and administrators in the past half century have been talking of restoring Cooum to its historical pris- tineness, but nothing has been achieved. Realistically, this effort is difficult, considering the high BOD level and anaerobic–microbial density. The Cooum starts from the namesake village in Tirûvallûr District (45 km NW) (http://casmbenvis.nic.in/Database/Coo- um-estuary10562.aspx?format=Print-Mary; accessed on 16 April 2020) and falls into the Bay of Bengal at Chepauk (13°06′17″N, 80°28′04″E).
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