Coimbatore: Under the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NTC), the District Collector of Coimbatore, K. Rajamani, inspected several private dyeing plants at Mettupalayam.
Coimbatore: Under the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NTC), the District Collector of Coimbatore, K. Rajamani, inspected several private dyeing plants at Mettupalayam.
Briefing regarding the inspection, the District Collector said, "The Bhavani river which originates in the Western Ghats, travels through Pillur dam, Mettupalayam and Erode. The river is the prime source of water for over 25 lakh people in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode and for the farmers of the region."
The TWAD board has implemented many combined water supply schemes, with the Bhavani river as the primary source. However, the NTC had received several complaints about this river being polluted, with untreated effuents from dyeing plants.
Following this, the NTC issued a directive to inspect the concerned dyeing plants and direct them to install water purification plants and water recycling units.
In this regard, a field inspection was also recommended to understand if any of the concerned dyeing plants were letting their sewer water mix into the river. The river water near the plants were also to be tested for pollutants.
The team of members from Coimbatore and Mettupalaym including the Municipal Commissioner, Central Environmental and Pollution Control Board Engineers and Tamilnadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) engineers inspected the various dyeing plants.
They visited United Bleachers Ltd and inspected their Water purification system and their water recycling plant. Further water samples from the Bhavani near, near the plant, were taken for testing.
Other dyeing units like ITC, Saradha Terry product Ltd and six other units were also inspected. The inspection was conducted to ensure that all the units had water purification plants and water recycling units.
The Municipal Commissioner and the Pollution Control Board engineers have been directed to conduct surprise inspections, informed the District Collector.
Central Environmental Senior Engineer Poornima, TN Pollution Control Board Deputy Chief Environmental Engineer A. Ashokan, Divisional Engineer Jayalakshmi, TWAD Assistant Executive Engineer Ravichandran and Mettupalayam Municipal Commissioner Suresh, were present during the inspection.