The Chennai Metro Water has rubbished the allegations made by a group of environmental activists that it was dumping the brine from the Nemmeli desalination plant directly on the beach instead of disposing of it of into the sea through pipelines.
Terming the allegations of the activists belonging to the Chennai Solidarity Group absolutely false, a Metro Water spokesperson said all the ‘RO reject water’ is being disposed of only through the reject pipeline diffuser system, which is about 600 metres from the shore and designed for the purpose.
“The seawater that is not being used by the plant is only being let into the sea. This is not RO reject and is only the seawater that is unused,” Metro Water said.
Earlier in the day, the group led by former bureaucrat L M Menezes, noted environmentalist Nityanand Jayaram, Santhosh, a resident of the village, advocate P Sundararajan and president of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Prof Saraswathy alleged that the recharge of groundwater in the coastal area had been affected as Metro Water was discharging wastewater into the beach.
The fact-finding report alleged that Metro Water had violated the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act by discharging the effluents on the beach and the eco-sensitive inter-tidal area.
However, Metro Water rejected the contention that ground water in the area had turned saline and said that intrusion of salinity into ground water would take place only when there was ground water extraction from the aquifer over a long period of time.
It also refuted the allegations that road-like structures constructed into the sea by Metrowater’s consultant V A Tech WABAG to transport equipment had eroded the beach of Sulerikattukuppam resulting in the collapse of several community halls.
“The break water structures that were created at the time of construction have been completely removed and as on date the beach has been formed to a width of 50 to 75 m and is continuously improving day by day. As of now, there is no sea erosion and the beach is formed,” Metro Water added.
Interestingly, the activists have urged Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to look into the allegations by the fact-finding team and demanded an inquiry by Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
They also alleged that instead of addressing the concerns of the villagers, Metro Water had sought police assistance to silence people. The police too had responded in a biased manner by acting with great “promptness and visciousness” on the complaints by Metro Water, they said.
However, denying the allegations, Metro Water said that it had taken all necessary steps to allay the apprehensions of the residents of Sulerikattukuppam, including shore protection works worth `1 crore.