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Chennai - Geographical and Physical Features
Chennai is a low-lying area and the land surface is almost flat like a pancake. The even topography of the land throughout the district renders sub-divisions into natural regions rather difficult. It rises slightly as the distance from the sea-shore increases but the average elevation of the city is not more than 22' above mean seal-level, while most of the localities are just at sea-level and drainage in such areas remains a serious problem. From very early times, Chennai was known for its pleasant scenery and was said to be a town open to sky and full of garden of mangoes, coconuts, guavas, oranges, etc.
In earlier days when the city was not so congested, gardens and groves were a common feature and most of the roads were flanked by frequent groves of palm and other trees. Even a number of houses too had gardens displaying fine trees canopied by green bough and creepers, Chennai city today is devoid of any forest areas but can still be proud of some of the well maintained green belts found in the Peoples park, the Napier park, the Horticulture-gardens, My Lady's Park, Children's Park Guindy, Snake Park, Nehru Park, Nageswara Rao Park, Independence Park, Anna Square Park, the Raj Bhavan, the Theosophical Society Campus, and a number of bungalows and newly developed colonies where provisions of public parks, etc. have been provided.
The indigenous trees found include among others neem, mango, tamarind, rain-tree, vagai, banyan, coconut, palm and pipal. Stretches of casuarina plantations are available on the sea-coast beyond the mouth of the Adyar in the South and Tondiarpet in the North, supplying firewood to the city. House gardening is not very common these days due to shortage of water and lack of space.
Rivers
The city is intersected by two languid streams, the Cooum and the Adyar. Cooum runs through the heart of the city and enters the sea in-between the university buildings and the Fort. St. George underneath the Napier Bridge, while the latter wends its way through the southern part of the city and enters the sea near Adyar. These two rivers are almost stagnant and do not carry enough water except during rainy seasons. Cooum river starts from Kesavaram Anicut in Kesavaram village built across Kortaliyar river. The surplus from Cooum tank joins this course at about 8 kms. lower down and this point is actually the head of Cooum river which is located at 48 kms. west of Chennai.
The river receives a sizeable quantity of sewage from its neighbourhood for disposal. Though the river Adyar can be traced to a point near Guduvancheri village, it assumes the appearance of a stream only after it receives the surplus water from the Chembarambakkam tank as wells as the drainage of the areas in the south-west of Chennai. The river has no commercial importance, but the fishermen in the neighbourhood make their living by fishing in the river.
Chennai - Geographical and Physical Features
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