Bhavani River Water and Ground Water Protection Committee has urged the district administration to move downstream in the river the Pilloor III headworks.
In its petition, the committee president T.T. Rangasamy said that the organisation had for the past three years been placing the demand to protect the existing 16 combined drinking water supply schemes and also the Pilloor III scheme, which the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board had taken up to supply 295 million litres a day to Coimbatore city. It had sent representations to the Board, the Chief Ministers and others concerned. In its response the Board had said that the limited flow in River Bhavani in a particular year and that too for a particular period should not be taken into account to move the headworks and the Board did not formulate water supply schemes taking into account such data.
The committee, Mr. Rangasamy said, then filed a petition under the Right to Information Act and got to know that the maximum water flow the river saw was 21,376 litres in July 2009 and the minimum was 74.09 litres in April 2000.
In between the Pilloor and Bhavani Sagar reservoirs, the Board had headworks for 16 combined drinking water schemes, which drew 106 million litres a day. If the Board were to commission the Pilloor III scheme that would add another 295 million litres to the 106 million litres water drawn every day.
This would put Mettupalayam and neighbouring areas at a disadvantage.
The committee based on the reply to the RTI petition had moved the Madras High Court, which on November 21, 2019 had issued notices to officials concerned asking for their response.
At this juncture it would not be proper for the district administration to grant the go-ahead to the Board to implement the project, he said. Now, if the Tiruppur fourth drinking water scheme were to be implemented, it would push things from bad to worse, he said and reiterated his demand for the headworks to be pushed downstream of the river, preferably at Alangcombu.
