Eleven years after Coca-Cola was forced to down shutters of its bottling plant at Perumatty in the face of an agitation led by the local grama panchayat alleging overexploitation of groundwater, yet another water war is brewing in Palakkad.
This time, the Pudussery grama panchayat is preparing to order a shut down of Pepsico India’s bottling plant at Kanjikode. The charges levelled are similar.
The panchayat is preparing to serve a stop memo on the bottling plant by next Tuesday, accusing Pepsico of illegally extracting 1,75,00,000 litres of groundwater a month. The area has been facing serious drinking water scarcity. The company says it draws about six lakh litres of groundwater a day.
Thomas Scaria, senior hydrologist with the Groundwater Department, said, of late, the department was not being allowed to check the quantity of groundwater sourced by Pepsico.
“Our previous inspections confirmed the presence of seven borewells with high capacity in the company compound. Pudussery is facing alarming depletion of groundwater level. The company is required to provide us access to its groundwater drawing mechanism but it does not,” he said.
An assembly subcommittee visited the company premises in 2009 and determined it was illegally extracting groundwater in excess, and directed it to draw a maximum of 2.4 lakh litres a day. However, Pepsico obtained a High Court stay against the directive.
“The company is overexploiting groundwater at a time when over 300 borewells of local farmers have turned dry. The panchayat is now depending on tanker lorries to get drinking water,” panchayat president K. Unnikrishnan told The Hindu .
The Pepsi plant, in 53 acres, uses nearly 48.5 per cent of the available groundwater in the region, he said.
Company stance
Pepsico officials, however, told The Hindu that the company had been running the unit as per norms. It has been reducing its water debit (amount of water used) and increasing its water credit (amount of water it gives back) by recharging and replenishing water for use in agriculture, within the communities, and at the company’s plants.
They said rainwater harvesting methods had been adopted at the Palakkad plant. “We have initiated roof-water harvesting in a big way, using percolation ponds. Treated effluent water is being used for gardening, irrigation etc. We have also reduced the water use ratio at the plant,’’ they said.
Pepsico is accused
of illegally extracting 1,75,00,000 litres
of groundwater
a month
