Water scarcity: State-wide study of abandoned quarries gets under way

Water tapped could be used for public consumption or irrigation purposes, says official

August 10, 2017 12:39 am | Updated 07:29 am IST - Chennai

New source: Water drawn from the quarries at Kundrathur is sent to the Chembarambakkam treatment plant. File Photo

New source: Water drawn from the quarries at Kundrathur is sent to the Chembarambakkam treatment plant. File Photo

The Revenue Administration has commissioned a State-wide study of abandoned quarries enthused by Chennai Metrowater’s experience of tapping water from them in and around the city for public supply.

“We are in the process of identifying such quarries. We are also exploring the possibility of deepening those quarries, which can be used for storage. If everything goes well, water can be used either for the public consumption or, at least, irrigation,” says K. Satyagopal, Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Revenue Administration, adding that the findings of the study are likely to be ready in a month.

Though the official is not willing to hazard a guess about the number of abandoned quarries in the State, he says this must be to the tune of several hundreds.

When the decision is taken to harness water from the quarries for domestic consumption, all the quality norms on the public water supply will be followed, Dr. Satyagopal says.

Another official explains that over the years, the government had given permission for quarrying blue metals on numerous sites, which are now lying abandoned on exhausting the potential of the sites.

For the last two months, Chennai Metrowater has been drawing 30 million litres a day (MLD) from 22 quarries in Sikkarayapuram, near Mangadu, from where water is first being taken to the Chembarampakkam water treatment plant.

It is expected that these quarries will serve for a minimum of one more month.

There are plans of tapping some more quarries near Tambaram for the public supply in the city.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.