PALAKKAD: In a pioneering move, a Kerala government-owned liquor manufacturing unit is planning to use purified water from quarries to produce Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in its blending and bottling plant. The new plant is coming up at Malabar Distilleries in Menonpara, with waste water from the quarries of the state-owned Malabar Cements in Walayar set to be a key resource.
Water extracted during rock-blasting operations for the production of raw materials at the Malabar Cements site is typically pumped out and discharged into the rivers nearby. It will now be purified and channelled into liquor production at the new government facility, in a strategic move to minimise waste and boost revenue.
Malabar Cements currently pumps out 50,000 to 1,15,000 litres of excess water daily from its open-cast limestone quarry — water that naturally accumulates during stone blasting and excavation.
The Bevco authorities are planning to produce 13,500 cases of brandy a day once the fully-automated plant becomes operational by February 2026.
“Environmental sampling and analysis have deemed the water suitable for distillery use after proper purification, making it a resource-efficient alternative to conventional water supply. There are numerous huge quarries inside the Malabar Cements campus where an immense quantity of rainwater is also harvested,” Malampuzha MLA A Prabhakaran told the TNIE.
Water will never be a matter of concern for the upcoming unit at Menonpara, he said.
Sources with the Malabar Cements confirmed the development and added that the government will decide the quantity of water to be transported from their campus. “We have an immense amount of water stored here,” the source said. Prabhakaran said the state government has no plans to use groundwater for the blending and bottling unit from where the authorities aim to produce brandy for the first time.
“The government has adopted a policy of not using groundwater for the project. The unit has a vast campus of 113 acres and we intend to introduce rainwater harvesting there. That itself will be sufficient for the blending and bottling purposes,” the MLA said.
Sources said the authorities never intended to depend on the groundwater at Menonpara. “It tastes different. We don’t think the groundwater from the area can be used for liquor production, even if it is treated,” said a senior officer with Bevco.
Officials see this as an innovative model for resource optimisation and revenue diversification, integrating two major public sector undertakings in a mutually beneficial initiative.