Owners of 34 of the 47 carrot cleaning units have installed water treatment and purification systems to treat the runoff from the machines in the Nilgiris.
The district administration, in a release, said the district had a total of 47 carrot cleaning units. The owners had been directed to install the systems to treat water used to clean carrots at the unit.
Pollution
Conservationists had voiced their concerns in the past that the runoff from the units was highly polluted, carrying chemicals and pesticides which get washed off from the carrots while they were being cleaned and get released into nearby rivers and streams.
A variety of wildlife, which were drinking water from the runoff from the units, including gaur, were said to be dying due to drinking the untreated water and from feasting on the discarded carrots from the units.
The owners of the units had requested that they be given time till they installed the systems due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the 47 units, the systems had been installed in 34 units, which were now being allowed to function.
9 units closed
Nine of the remaining 13 units had been closed down for failing to install the systems and would be allowed to function only when they installed the systems.
The owners of the other units were in the process of getting the plants installed, officials said.
