ERODE: People using water from the Lower Bhavani Dam (LBD) alleged that the water released from the dam is highly polluted since the past few days. KR Sudhanthirarasu, president of the Tamil Nadu Small and Micro Farmers Association, said, “The water, being supplied to Kalingarayan canal through the LBD, is found to be black and dark blue in colour since the past three days. We depend on the LBD for irrigation. The pollution of the water from the river is a cause of concern for us, as the crops will be damaged if we use chemical water. The water is slowly becoming unfit for drinking. The main reason for this is the dye and laundry factories in the river basins and Mettupalayam in Coimbatore. A number of tanneries are also located along the Bhavani river. The main reason for this is that these plants discharge sewage into the river without treating it.”
A Sivakrishnan, an environmental activist from Erode, said, “The state government should take immediate steps to prevent this, else the entire river will get polluted and will become like the polluted Noyyal river.”
When asked about this, officials from water resources department (WRD) said that the water discharged from the LBD is polluted.
“This is shocking for us as well. The dam has 86 feet of water now against the total storage capacity of 105 feet. A total of 800 cusecs of water has been released into the river, from which 600 cusecs is supplied to Kalingarayan canal for irrigation and 200 cusecs for drinking water needs. The colour of water was different on Saturday as well,” a WRD official from Erode said.
“The dam receives water from Nilgiris through two ways. The water coming from the Moyar river is clean, but the water coming to the dam through Mettupalayam is polluted due to the factories on the bank of the river. We do not know when these chemical wastes were released into the river. At present, the water in the dam has decreased and chemical waste is coming out of it. About 3 lakh acres of agricultural land depend directly or indirectly on the water of this dam and 10 million people from Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur and Karur districts depend on it for drinking. If this situation continues, water from Bhavani river will become unfit for agriculture and drinking,” he added.
Another official from the WRD said that this is the first time that the water released from the dam is found to be contaminated.A Pollution Control Board (PCB) official from Erode said, “A team of officials will visit the dam on Monday and appropriate action will be taken after that. After that appropriate action will be taken.” PCB officials from Coimbatore North didn’t respond to calls.