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The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), in its efforts for water augmentation through non-conventional sources, implemented the pumping of water from abandoned quarries to Sikkarayapuram quarries during the extreme droughts in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024 under special initiatives.
This was stated in the report filed by CMWSSB to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on March 28, 2025.
Currently, the infrastructure for pumping operations at the Sikkarayapuram quarries is ready for use. Additionally, infrastructure work to obtain electricity from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board at the Sikkarayapuram quarries has been completed, and the application for power supply with the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd is underway. The storage is now nearly 6000 millilitres.
Pumping operations at Sikkarayapuram quarries were not continued after 2019 due to subsequent good monsoons.
The cumulative quantity pumped from the quarries was 2,727 ml in 2017, 3,606.19 ml in 2019, 1,292.73 ml in 2023 and 105.44 ml in 2024. The CMWSSB infrastructure established the interconnection provided to all the quarries.
The CMWSSB infrastructure established in the interconnection provided to all the quarries, along with the kutcha drain provided by water resources department from the Chembarambakkam surplus up to the quarries, have now facilitated filling up of the quarries regularly. With the available storage and infrastructure, CMWSSB is in a position to draw 30 MLD from Sikkarayapuram quarries and 10 MLD from Erumaiyur quarries.
Exotic flora species eucalyptus, acacia and wattle were planted by the Kerala Forest Department for industrial purposes in the 1960s. It was to cater to the demands of the industries at that time.
An extent of 7,622.0410 hectares of eucalyptus and 1,758.210 ha of wattle plantations are at present in the forests of Kerala, stated the report filed by the Forest and Wildlife Department, Kerala on March 28, 2025.
Now, the department has embarked upon phasing out exotic monoculture plantations due to their ecological incompatibility. Planting of exotic species has been stopped in the forests of Kerala — wattle since 1992, Acacia auriculiformis and Acacia mangium since 2018 and eucalyptus since 2019.
As per government order on December 17, 2021, Kerala has approved the eco-restoration policy. The policy covers all of the exotic monoculture plantations of eucalyptus, acacia and wattle in the forests for their phased removal and consequent restoration to natural state or planted with suitable indigenous species. It envisages the eradication of the exotics and the eco-restoration of these areas over the next two decades.
With respect to Wayanad landslide in July 2024, the department said that “the Wayanad landscape is fragile and the landslide is a result of multiple factors such as the terrain, the preparatory circumstances (previous instances of soil piping) and the trigger which was the high rainfall recorded in the preceding couple of days. It cannot be therefore be surmised that the landslide is a result of the encroachments that area identified within the area”.
The NGT had ordered a report identifying the primary cause of the Wayanad landslide, including an evaluation of factors like quarrying activities, commercial building construction, other construction activities, and natural disasters. On September 27, 2024, the National Green Tribunal impleaded the Forest and Wildlife Department, Kerala, and ordered the submission of an independent report on afforestation and actions taken against encroachment.