As per GO. Ms. No. 371 PW Department dt. 26.6.97 and GO. Ms. No. 625 PW Dept. dt. 20.11.2000, three Environmental Cell Divisions with Head Quarters at Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore have been formed to function under the Chief Engineer (Plan Formulation), WRO, Chennai and performing the Environmental related works of water resources

Collecting all primary and secondary data on environmental issues, preparing Micro Level Environmental Status Reports, Environmental Action Plan Reports of the river basins, Environmental Impact Assessment of new schemes, conducting Pilot Studies on specific Environmental issues, creating awareness among the people of all walks of life in safe guarding the water resources from environmental degradations, collecting and testing water samples and soil samples to monitor the water resources etc are some of the important primary works of the Environmental Cell Divisions.

Environmental Status Reports have been prepared for all the 17 river basins in Tamilnadu and during the extended WRCP project period Micro Level Environmental Status Reports are being prepared. The status of the River Basins, relating to all Environmental issues of water resources, such as catchment degradation, siltation, over exploitation of surface and ground water, sea water intrusion, water logging, sand mining, deforestation, pollution due to solid waste, sewage, trade effluent etc including connected basic and secondary data will find place in the status reports. In general the status report will depict all environmental issues and its impact on the society of a river basin.

Environmental Action Plan will be useful to develop the mitigation measures for the degraded river basins. Based on the Environmental Status Report, the various Action Plans to be taken and implemented by all water user departments including the Water Resources Organization, to restore the environment of water resources will be incorporated in the Environmental Action Plan Reports. The reports so far have been prepared to Bhavani, Vaigai and Chennai Basins. From this EAP report one would be able to know the various factors influencing the degradation and the necessary mitigation measures to be carried out in short term and long term

The Environmental Impact Assessment is essentially needed for any new projects. The Environmental Impact Assessment study will be useful to know whether the project could give positive impact or negative impact on land, water, environment and social aspects. In addition, it will be useful to know about project-affected persons, resettlement details and any other direct and indirect benefits.

A model Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) document has been developed with the guidance of M/s Tahal consultant for the project of "Construction of Bathalapalli Reservoir Projects across Malattar river of Palar river basin". Based on the model Environmental Impact Assessment EIA, the EIAs for the following projects have been prepared and are being updated

A. Shenbagathope Reservoir Project across of Ponnaiyar river basin by the Environmental Cell Division, Chennai.

B. Construction of Anicut across Nallathangal Odai of Amaravathi River basin by the Environmental Cell Division, Coimbatore

C. Construction of Anicut across Malattar river of Gundar basin by the Environmental Cell Division, Madurai

D. Formation of Network across Aswamanadhi River near Doddappanaickanur village,Usilampati Taluk, Madurai Dt.

The preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment Report for ongoing projects will be useful to learn how to prepare the Environmental Impact Assessment of any new project. The capabilities of the divisions in preparing the Environmental Impact Assessment have been considerably improved.

In order to protect the environment of water resources from the impact of various developmental activities taking place and to create awareness among the people many pilot studies have been taken up. A brief note on some of the pilot studies taken up and completed is furnished below.

Many of the city municipalities, town panchayats are not having proper treatment plants and let out the sewage generated into nearby water resources without giving any treatment, which leads to degradation of surface water, ground water and makes it not useful for any community purposes. This also affects cultivation in irrigation lands besides public health. Many of the rivers and lakes in Tamilnadu have been affected by this sewage pollution.

The small tank in Sulur, near Coimbatore is also one among them. Sulur is a new developing town panchayat, having a total population of 31000 and an area of 4.89 Sq. Km. It is selected by the State government for implementation of various developmental activities so as to make this as a model panchayat. The old town and the new developing areas of this town panchayat are having almost equal population. There is no sewage treatment plant available and nearly 8.00 Lakh litres of sewage generating from this old town is let into the Small Tank, which affected the surface water, ground water besides 522 acres of land irrigated by this tank.

The consequences resulted in huge economic loss. So to mitigate the tank and to augment the water and use it for irrigation and other purposes, a pilot study has been under taken to develop a cost effective sewage treatment plant, using biological method for treating the sewage. A proposal for the same has been formulated at an estimate cost of Rs. 15.00 lakh and funded by the World Bank. In addition, the panchayat also has contributed Rs. 5.00 Lakh towards equipments like aerators.

Under this study, a small treatment plant having a collection chamber, aeration tank, filters have been constructed and the sewage before letting into the tank has been received into the collection chamber and from there pumped into the aeration chamber .In the aeration chamber a biological cleaning powder "Bio Clean" is mixed to the required level and the sewage is aerated. The bio clean is an organic compound in powder form, having millions of microbes (bacteria) and when mixed in the sewage reacts and generates the bacteria.

The bacteria, eating the dirt and waste in the sewage, treats the water. From the aerated chamber, the sewage is allowed to pass thro various filters before let into the tank. In order to reduce the salt and to increase the DO Level in the treated water a salt absorbing plant known as Typha is also introduced in the filter chambers and the treated water is found to be well within the parameters and no sludge is accumulating in this process.

The trial run has been successfully completed and appreciated by national and local news papers. People from all walk of life including officials, students and foreigners visited the site and appreciated the task. The cost of this process including the initial investment and maintenance cost is found to be cheaper than the conventional method. The area required for the erection of the plant is also found to be very minimum than that in the conventional method. The plant will be commissioned shortly and the benefits and out come of this study will be communicated to the Government for implementing the same in all the affected water resources thro the Local Administration Department.

There are about 800 Sago Industries in Salem, Namakkal and Athur areas of Salem District, manufacturing sago products such as barley, starch etc processing Topiaca , an eatable root. The industries require large quantity of water during the processing and production stages . The effluent generated is rich in organic content and causes serious environmental pollution to the ground water and surrounding land.. The fermented effluent also emanates intolerable foul odor . So to comb out the problem, a study has been carried out in the industries, to how best to minimize the water requirement by way of recycle and reuse, adoption of cleaner production technology and to find a way to use the methane gas generated from the effluent.

The study has been successfully completed. The bio methane gas emanated from the fermented effluent is successfully extracted and used for heat generation by suitable modified burners and used for roasting the sago, there by the electricity energy required for the industries has been considerably saved.

The cleaner production technology adopted and recycle and reuse of water also improved the process reducing water utilization. The study has been completed and the out come will be communicated thro the Managing Director, Sago Industries for effective implementation in all the industries.

3 Pilot Study on Textile Industries to restore Noyyal Orathupalayam Reservoir in Tiruppur District.

There are about 5000 banian and textile units and 800 dyeing units functioning at Thirupur. Number of toxic chemicals are used in the dyeing process and the effluent generated from these units, without treatment has been initially let into the Noyyal River above the Orathupalayam Reservoir and because of that the 20,000 acres ayacut located in Erode and Karur Districts have been highly affected.

Further surrounding ground water also highly deteriorated leading to scarcity for drinking water and prone to health hazard. In the Common Effluent Treatment Plants installed now for the treatment of dyeing effluent, lime and Ferrous Sulphate are added in huge quantity for removal of color, which is the reason for huge accumulation sludge, the disposal of which is a major problem.

An organic compound, known as "BIOCLEAN" containing millions of microbes is used for treating the effluent. These microbes treating the effluent removing the polluting organic matter.

In order to reduce the TDS, treated effluent is allowed to pass through a salt absorbing plant known as TYPHA. To reduce the salt further, another method known as Ozonized Centrifugal Aeration Technology (OCAT) has been adopted. By this method 40% of salt is removed from the effluent. Using these technique, the water reaching Orathupalayam is proposed to be cleaned and utilized for aquaculture activities proposed by the Govt.

About 60% to 80% of the tanks and water resources in Tamil Nadu were affected due to the growth of Neyveli Kattamanakku and water fomya with the excess chemical manure and the sewage water from the Municipalities. Due to the growth of these biological plants, there is reduction in the capacity of the water resources and the water is wasted due to evaporation.

The water quality gets affected and thereby affecting the agricultural production. In order to arrest the situation these plants are to be destroyed. These plants could not be destroyed by uprooting with the help of men or machinery. If chemicals are used to destroy these plants the water would be polluted more, resulting in many impacts.

Hence by applying biological techniques viz., "Vivils" and "bytes" grown at laboratory condition is to be fed into plants, which will help in the destruction of these plants and purify the water. By applying this method the growth of these biological plants could be controlled. Municipalities should take action to stop from letting from sewage water in the water resources.

By adopting the benefits derived from these studies, action is being taken to protect such water resources in Tamil Nadu, which are affected due to the growth of these plants.

Action has been initiated for the development of the affected area in the upstream of the catchment area of the Noyyal Basin for increasing the ground water level and also for avoiding soil erosion in co-ordination with the Agricultural Engineering Department and Forest Department. Check dams, soil conservation and percolation ponds are also formed for the improvement of the catchment areas.

In the task of protecting the catchment area, growing the trees and option of suitable agricultural practices are being made aware to the public by organizing camps. This task has been completed and report is under preparation.

A study was undertaken by the Annamalai University, Chidambaram to rectify the affected irrigated ayacut of Wallajah and Perumal Tanks due to drainage water from Neyveli Mines.

The factors such as nature of soil, reduction in production were studied in the above study. The study has been completed and the report submitted.

In order to reduce the content of the coal dust in the water from the above mines, suggestions have been made to construct check dams in the supply channel so as to reduce the speed of the water and also to deepen the tanks so that the coal dust may deposit at the bottom.

A pilot study was undertaken by the Anna University, Chennai to find a solution for avoiding the reduction in capacity in the reservoir due to soil erosion and the damages caused by the water grown plants in Krishnagiri Reservoir.

Likewise, various studies are being undertaken by the environmental circles under the control of Plan Formulation under WRCP with the assistance of World Bank for utilizing the water for various developmental activities like agriculture, protection of environment etc. In order to avoid the factory and Municipal wastages that pollute the water sources, water and soil samples are taken and experiments are conducted.

The WRCP has now been extended upto September, 2004. Action is being taken to complete the pilot studies which were already taken upto March, 2004 and also to undertake a new pilot study at a cost of Rs. 45.00 lakhs.

    [PWD Policy Note Page]