SIPCOT to treat grey water to meet their excess water demand

CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu: The Department of Industries is planning to build additional desalination plants and treat grey water to meet their excess water demand, which may spike soon as the state has attracted investment worth ₹6.6 lakh crore during the global investor summit, earlier. 

K Senthil Raj, Managing Director, State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), in his address to the press, said, “We have identified five places to set up desalination and sewage treatment plants which will generate around 50 million litres per day (MLD). These include Tharuvaikulam in Thoothukudi (15MLD desalination plant), Ramayanpatty in Tirunelveli (9MLD tertiary treated reverse osmosis plant); Avaniapuram in Madurai (5MLD TTRO plant); Sakkimangalam in Madurai (3MLD) and Panjappur in Tiruchy (5MLD).”

He added that they wanted to conserve freshwater in reservoirs and groundwater as most regions in Tamil Nadu heavily rely on groundwater sources for residential, commercial, and industrial use. As per the draft of the Sustainable Land Use Policy for Tamil Nadu, the state is on the list of most water-stressed states, with the availability of only 900 cubic metres a year, while the national average stands at 1,486 cubic metres.

Intending not to stress the limited water resources, SIPCOT came up with the idea of building their own water treatment plants, for which they have identified potential water reuse belts. They are also planning to integrate all resources as recycled water use grids. The plan has been formulated based on a study conducted by the Tami Nadu Investment Company to identify a suitable system for reusing treated water from the sewage treatment plant of urban local bodies to meet the needs of SIPCOT industrial parks.