Will Rs 150-crore rejuvenation project save Noyyal river from pollution?

  • | Thursday | 12th July, 2018

Another 100MLD sewage water is released from Coimbatore city, where there a number of sewage treatment plants. More than 50MLD untreated sewage water enters the river from the dollar city alone. Out of the total 14km stretch, the project will cover just a little more than 7km stretch. There are more than seven settlements within Tirupur city alone and they should be evicted to implement the project.Tirupur CPM district secretary S Muthukannan said it was important to save Noyyal river from pollution and the proposed project should be implemented only in consultation with experts, industrialists and political parties. “The baby canals may come with pedestrian path atop it, or the canals could be constructed separately alongside the pedestrian path.”However, many feel that it won’t be easy to prevent sewage water or untreated industrial effluents from entering the river.

Tirupur: The proposed Rs 150-crore Noyyal river rejuvenation project is expected to play a major role in addressing the issue of pollution of waterbodies in the district.However, the project has to be planned and implemented meticulously as otherwise it wouldn’t serve the very purpose of safeguarding one of the highly-polluted rivers.Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had said in the assembly that his government would go about the rejuvenation project by constructing retaining walls on either side of the Noyyal, along with baby canals, to prevent sewage water from entering the river. Plans to desilt the waterbody and strengthen the existing check dams are also in the scheme of things, besides setting up pedestrian path and a few sewage treatment plants along the river.“The plan is to construct retaining walls to strengthen the bunds on either side of the river from Andipalayam to Kasipalayam. Out of the total 14km stretch, the project will cover just a little more than 7km stretch. The remaining stretch will be covered under the corporation’s smart city mission,” Tirupur south MLA S Gunasekaran told TOI.Pointing out that the recently approved Rs 523-crore underground drainage system scheme might not help in preventing sewage water from the newly-added wards and neighbouring civic bodies entering the river, he said baby canals would address the issue. “The baby canals may come with pedestrian path atop it, or the canals could be constructed separately alongside the pedestrian path.”However, many feel that it won’t be easy to prevent sewage water or untreated industrial effluents from entering the river. “There are about 70 major drain points in the river. More than 50MLD untreated sewage water enters the river from the dollar city alone. Another 100MLD sewage water is released from Coimbatore city, where there a number of sewage treatment plants. So, unless the underground drainage system and sewage treatment plants are implemented properly, it will be impossible to prevent pollution,” said a government official, who didn’t want to be named.“ Rs 150 crore will not be enough for constructing retaining walls, baby canals and STPs,” said another government official, requesting anonymity.Another challenge is the various settlements along the river banks. There are more than seven settlements within Tirupur city alone and they should be evicted to implement the project.Tirupur CPM district secretary S Muthukannan said it was important to save Noyyal river from pollution and the proposed project should be implemented only in consultation with experts, industrialists and political parties.

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