COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has initiated a project aimed at preventing groundwater contamination in the Vellalore region, where leachates from the dumpyard have been affecting nearby areas.
The civic body has begun constructing a specialised leachate water storage lagoon designed to safely collect and treat the toxic liquid that seeps out of garbage piles.
Leachate is a dark, contaminated liquid formed when rainwater and moisture pass through accumulated waste. If left unmanaged, it can seep into the soil and pollute groundwater sources. Residents living near the Vellalore dumpyard have raised concerns in recent months after noticing yellow-coloured water from borewells, particularly in the Sriram Nagar locality.
Following these complaints, the Corporation collected water samples and sent them for laboratory analysis. As an immediate solution, officials have proposed constructing a storage lagoon to prevent the contaminated water from percolating into the ground.
The proposed lagoon will measure 30 metres in length, 90 metres in width and one metre in depth, with a storage capacity of approximately 2.7 million litres of leachate water. The structure will be built on about 50 cents within the dumpyard. To ensure that the leachate does not seep into the soil, the base will be prepared by laying a layer of sand and covering it with chemical clay and protective liners.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said the collected leachate will be stored in the lagoon and later treated through appropriate purification processes.
"Similar systems have been successfully implemented in Bengaluru. We are attempting to adopt the same model in Vellalore to address the issue effectively," he added.
Spread across nearly 150 acres, the Vellalore dumpyard currently contains large mounds of accumulated waste. Officials also plan to eliminate the legacy waste through biomining, a process that could take about a year to complete.
The commissioner also revealed that the project is the first-of-its-kind initiative undertaken by a civic body in Tamil Nadu and is expected to significantly reduce environmental risks in the surrounding areas.