The Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to be commissioned later this year to serve a cluster of 132 tanneries in Pallavaram near Madras will have a unique feature: it will bring 3 neighbouring residential colonies within its purview. Says S Abdul Rahim, executive director of the Pallavaram Tanners Industrial Effluent Treatment Co Ltd, managers to the project in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, "We are extending the facility to the community as a goodwill gesture."
The 3 colonies have already been identified: Nagappanagar, Shankarnagar and New Colony (Chromepet). "We have to finalise the total number of residences to be served, which will depend upon the hydraulic load handled by the CETP," says Rahim. While the treated water from the plant will be discharged into the Adyar river near the Thirunamalai temple 3.5 km from the site, a 40.5 ha plot has been allocated by the Tamil Nadu government near the Siruseri village 35 km away for sludge disposal. "The sludge will be utilised for the manufacture of bricks and as manure," says CETP manager P Jeyakodi.
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