What if Madurai created a series of public spaces to mitigate water-related inequity along the Vaigai River?
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WATER RITES Addressing Water-Related Inequity in Madurai The proposal uses the edges of the River Vaigai and the municipal overhead tanks as tools to address water inequity for the diverse residents and pilgrims of Madurai. Water Rites proposes public pools and ecological filtration areas to support and formalize sites for the bathing, laundry, commerce, and recreation that have long occurred along the river’s edges.
Aminata Seck, Cameron Cortez, Nicolas del Valle, Vinh Le Water Rites 117
Madurai is one of the most important religious cities in southern India. Every year, during the festival month of Chithirai, the city hosts a rapid influx of around 1,000,000 domestic pilgrims, who temporarily inhabit the city’s streets and riverbed, giving the city an incredible transient population. Like most large cities, its population and urban density have also significantly increased over time because of an accelerated flow of people leaving rural areas seeking alternative jobs and education. One of the most crucial contemporary infrastructural issues is water (its sourcing, its distribution, its access, its reuse, its relationship with sewage, and its political governing). The current water distribution system of the Madurai Corporation entirely depends on the Vaigai Dam piping water to a network of overhead water tanks that distribute the amenity through purchasable domestic and commercial plumbing infrastructure. As a result of this primarily financial constraint, 50% of the city’s population does not have formal access to potable water to exercise their rituals and necessities of daily life, and is therefore dependent on informal water sources such as private wells, the River Vaigai, and “natural” surface tanks for basic water-related amenities. In addition, 28% of the city’s population is using open space for toilet-related amenities. These fundamental problems of water-related equity are not only affecting the physical environment, they are producing increasingly wide-spread societal conflict. The proposal uses the edges of the River Vaigai and the municipal overhead tanks as tools to address this inequity for the diverse residents and pilgrims of Madurai: 1. River Vaigai Edges: This project proposes public pools and ecological filtration areas to support and formalize sites for the bathing, laundry, commerce, and recreation that have long occurred along the river’s edges. These interventions will be located at critically active nodes along eight km of the river Vaigai, interfacing with the Chithirai Festival’s main riverbed concentration point, informal residential areas, bus stations, and institutions. Formally, the interventions are inspired by the traditional “Ghats”, but are intended to actively capture, distribute, and filter water to address societal and ecological needs. Schematically, the underlying system is a series of contoured social pools that are connected to a series of phytoremediation pools by a gate, which are situated at the same elevation as the riverbed. The insertion of this
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system into the riverbed allows for fluctuating volumes of water to passively enter and exit the interventions by their natural velocities. These interventions also facilitate access to the riverbed itself, an action that has long been discouraged by the concrete bund roads that presently line the Vaigai’s edges. 2. Municipal Overhead Tanks: There are currently 28 overhead tanks and a network of pipelines that extend across 72 of the 100 wards of the city. There is an abundance of publicly-owned open space below and around these tanks that is presently made inaccessible by a variety of fences and physical barriers. Rather than extend the dense pipelines of these tanks further into the growing city, this proposal regulates the opening of these sites to their surrounding urban fabric, so that they may become sites for public toilets as well as for the retrieval of potable water. It is the intention to make the role of these overhead tanks more transparent, and the water they hold and distribute more accessible; the sites also will also contain vegetated spaces for socializing and resting, to passively offset the heat of Madurai’s warm climate. Like the Vaigai’s edges, this project turns this system of overhead tanks into new icons that signify the access of basic amenities for the citizens of Madurai, both permanent and transient.
Chairman Karumuttu T.Kannan
Maneesha - the student
Description: Chairman of Thiagarajar University, the Trust of the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple and member of the Planning Board of the Kamaraj University. An example of the male high class of Madurai.
Description: An ambitious young female studying architecture at the prestigious Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai. She lives at a female hostel on the university’s campus.
Aminata - the tourist
Description: A tourist in Madurai, Aminata has come to briefly study the city’s relationship to water with the architecture and engineering students of Thiagarajar University. She stays at the Heritage Madurai, one of the city’s premier Hotel and Resorts.
Paddy Field Woman
Description: Female agricultural workers are an important part of Indian society. Many work from the beginning of the morning out on the paddy fields. Sometimes they bring the kids to the fields to take care of them. The stern conditions of work are a raw representation of the conditions of life they have in a society that is taking distance of the reality of agriculture.
Pilgrim
Brahmin Archaka - the priest
Description: A middle-aged pilgrim from Delhi, whose pilgrimage to Madurai for the Chithirai festival was funded through the efforts of his family. He is unable to afford lodging a local hostel/temple. He sleeps, like many, along the Vaigai’s banks.
Description: A male Vaishnava priest, expected to enter the priesthood the moment of birth due to gender and the expectations of being born into the Brahmin Caste. This priest works dutifully in the Meenakshi Amman Temple.
Male Rickshaw Driver
SMP Colony Woman
Description: A content family man not shy to working long hours and an expert in the virtue of patience. He has owned an auto richshaw for 6 years, and has rapidly witnessed both an increase in the demand for his services as well as in his competition.
Description: A mother of several, and an integral part of her community, she relies on the inconsistent flowing of the river Vaigai for basic services and for income.
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REGIONAL CONTEXT, PRECIPITATION, AND WATER MOVEMENT Water is traced from the Western Ghats, where it is captured within the Vaigai Dam, and released both mechanically into the River Vaigai, where it eventually meets the sea, as well as pumped to serve regional municipalities, such as the Madurai Corporation.
WATER MOVEMENT DIAGRAM The adjacent diagram abstracts the regional water distribution processes, and locates the territory of our project within these processes.
Mullai Periyar Dam
Mullai Periyar Lake
Periyar Dam Reservoir
Vaigai
Periyar Headworks
Pannaipatty Water Treatment Plant
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Periyar Water Canal
Vaigai river
Manaloor Headworks
PROJECT INTERVENTION
Distribution Tanks
Manaloor Water Treatment Plant
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CURRENT MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Until 2013 the city of Madurai had 28 overhead tanks inside the boundaries of the Corporation. These elements represent the presence of clean potable water in the city. From these points the water is transmitted to home through a system of private pipes. Due the cost of these connections only 48% of the population living within the boundaries of Madurai Corporation has access to clean drinking water.
CURRENT SURFACE WATER TANKS SYSTEM By contrast the 52% of the population that can’t afford the connection to clean water depends on alternative sources. These alternative sources are private water dwells, points of municipal water distribution, and mainly the Surface Water Tanks System. This system is composed by a series of canals, retention tanks and the Vaigai River running across the city surface. Originally created to provide water for agriculture purposes now this system is the source of water for cooking, drinking and basic amenities such laundry and bathing. The main points of access to this system are located along the Vaigai River and the major water tanks. The conditions of access to these points is restricted by several barriers like concrete walls and fences built to prevent encroachment of adjacent properties. In terms of quality the water quality is recommended to not drink this water if its not treated due the high levels of minerals on it. Situation that increase even more the social inequity related to water accessibility.
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Water Rites 123
SITE PROTOTYPING / RELEVANT ADJACENCIES 1. Kooldal Nagar Railway 2. E.S.I. Hospital 3. Crematorium 4. Arapalayam Bus Station 5. Government Hospital 6. Capron Hall Girls’ Secondary School 7. Madurai Junction Railway Station 8. Bus Stop 9. Meenakshi Amman Temple 10. Sri Meenakshi Government College 11. Annamalai Theatre 12. Government Rajaji Hospital Madurai Medical College The American College Playground Rajaji Park Gandhi Memorial Museum 13. Sourashtra Boys Higher Secondary School 14. Raghavendra Hospital 15. Adlabs Ganesh Cinema 16. BIG Cinemas 17. Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School 18. Muktheeswarar Temple Meenakshi Sundareswarar Girls Higher Secondary School 19. Thiagarajar College 20. Teppakkulam 21. SMP Colony 22. Madurai Corporation
1 1.
2 2.
55. 4. 4
Potencial Sites of Intervention
Existing Edge 124
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33.
23 23. 22 22. 12 12.
10 10. 21 21.
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13. 13
15 14 14. 15. 17 17. 16 16.
19. 19 20 20.
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Overhead Tank Canal Bridge Temple / Shrine Chithirai Footprint Civic Bath Infrastructure
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Operationalized Edge Water Rites 125
1.
Drinking water taps. Public space with security
2.
3.
Men Toilets
Women Toilets
BUTED ABLE
D ATED
N THE
2.
Men Toilets
4.
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Water is siphoned from overhead tanks and distributed on-site for toilets and potalbe water
Women Toilets
4. 5. GAS FROM STORED WASTE IS COMBUSTED TO GENERATE ON-SITE ENERGY
5.
7. TREATED MATERIAL IS THEN RELEASED FROM CANALS INTO A SERIES OF PHYTOREMEDIATION POOLS THAT ARE NOW BUILT INTO THE VAIGAI’S EDGE
3.
2.
1.
6.
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Water tank plaza + revitilized edge: Public space showing combine municipal and private system design
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Gas from stor to gener
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red waste is combusted rate on-site energy
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Organic liquid waste and stormwater runoff are treated through a series of bioremediation filters within the canals of Madurai
7.
Treated material is then released from canals into a series of phytoremedeation pools that are now built into the Vaigai’s edge
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FORM LOGIC / SEASONAL BATH VARIANCE A series of pools are inset into a larger pool, that constitutes the public bath. These pools are shaped by the flow and volume of water within the River Vaigai. Depending on these temporal parameters, the baths change in form and definition. INDIVIDUAL
POOL SCALES
FAMILY / SMALL GROUP COMMUNITY / MULTI-GROUP
FEMALE MALE
VAIGAI FLOW
VAIGAI FLOW
VAIGAI FLOW SAND SHAPING VEGETATION
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Rainfall (mm)
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Rainfall (mm)
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Water Rites 129 180 160 140 120 100
CANALS: BIOREMEDIATION Passive filtration techniques at the sites of existing canals within the city of Madurai.
NEW DEVELOPMENT AREA
Species: Amorpha frutiosa (Accumulates Lead) Azolla pinnata (Biosorbs metals) Bacopa monnieri (Accumulates metals) Hydrilla Verticallata (Hyperaccumulates metals) Myriophyllum aquaticum (Transforms and degrades a variety of contaminants) Phragmites australis (Used in reed bed treatment systems)
WASTE C
waste discharged through pipes
Bioremediation RIVER: PHYTOREMEDIATION Passive filtration techniques adjacent to the civic baths along the River Vaigai.
Water filtrating along the planting areas
Species: Chrysanthemums (Morifolium) Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachua spp) Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera ssp) English Ivy (Hedera helix) Vetiver grass (Nepturia deracea) Mytle grass (Acorus calamus)
VAIGAI RIVER BRIDGE
Phytoremediation
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SHRUB
Madurai Water Urbanism
Taking avantage of the unique capabilities of plant root systems - translocaton, bioaccumultion, and contminant degradation
BRIDGE
VAIGAI RIVER
CANAL
VAIGAI RIVER
NEW DEVELOPMENT AREA FILTERED WATER CANAL DISCHARGE
Species Amorpha frutiosa
Accumulate Lead
Azolla pinnata PHYTOREMEDIATION AREA Bacopa monnieri
Biosorbs metals Accumulate metals
Hydrilla verticillata
Hyperaccumulate metals
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Transforms and degrades a variety of contaminants
Phragmites australis
Used in reed bed treatment systems
VAIGAI RIVER
WET MEADOW
OPEN WATER
SHALLOW MARSH
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Species Chrysanthemums
Morifolium
THE VAIGAI RIVERBED ACCOMMODATED A DIFFERENT FLUX OF WATER AND USES
Vaigai During the Chithirai Festival. April
Male Rickshaw Driver
SMP Colony Woman
Pilgrim
Description: A middle-aged pilgrim from Delhi, whose pilgrimage Description: A content family man not shy to working long hoursDescription: A mother of several, and an integral part of her and an expert in the virtue of patience. He has owned an auto community, she relies on the inconsistent flowing of the river to Madurai for the Chithirai festival was funded through the efforts of his family. He is unable to afford lodging a local hostel/richshaw for 6 years, and has rapidly witnessed both an increase Vaigai for basic services and for income. temple. He sleeps, like many, along the Vaigai’s banks. in the demand for his services as well as in his competition.
Vaigai During the rest of the Year
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Chairman Karumuttu T.Kannan
Description: Chairman of Thiagarajar University, the Trust of the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple and member of the Planning Board of the Kamaraj University. An example of the male high class of Madurai.
Brahmin Archaka - the priest
Paddy Field Woman
Aminata - the tourist
Maneesha - the student
Description: An ambitious young female studying architecture at
Description: Female agricultural workers are anDescription: important part A tourist in Madurai, Aminata has come tothebriefly prestigious Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai. Description: A male Vaishnava priest, expected to enter the priestof Indian society. Many work from the beginning study of the the morning city’s relationship to water with the architecture and She lives at a female hostel on the university’s campus. hood the moment of birth due to gender and the expectations of out on the paddy fields. Sometimes they bring the kids to thestudents of Thiagarajar University. She stays at the engineering being born into the Brahmin Caste. This priest works dutifully in fields to take care of them. The stern conditions of Heritage work are Madurai, a raw one of the city’s premier Hotel and Resorts. the Meenakshi Amman Temple. representation of the conditions of life they have in a society that is taking distance of the reality of agriculture.
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