Veeranam lake water safe for drinking: WRD

CHENNAI: Amid concerns over pollution in the water from the Veeranam lake, which is supplied to Chennai, the state govt has tested samples and declared it safe.

In May, reports surfaced alleging that water in the Veeranam tank in Cuddalore turned green, raising doubts among farmers and the public about potential contamination. There were suspicions that dyeing units in Karur area might have discharged effluents into the tank, which has a storage capacity of 1.46 TMC.

Also last year, water samples collected by Poovulagin Nanbaragal, an environmental advocacy group, revealed the presence of heavy metals in water samples taken within an 8km radius of the NLC mines in Cuddalore district, with mercury levels in some locations exceeding permissible limits by up to 250 times.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognizance of the matter and directed the govt to study and submit a report. Accordingly, the state Water Resources Department (WRD) sent water samples to Annamalai University and Vatech Wabag, a private water technology firm responsible for quality assurance for the Chennai Metro Water Supply Board, for analysis in June.

The test reports, submitted to the NGT southern zone now, confirmed that the water from Veeranam lake contains no toxins and is safe for drinking. In addition to the tank water, samples from the Vadakuthu plant in Cuddalore, which treats Veeranam water, were also declared safe for consumption.

These samples showed a mercury level of 0.0005 mg/L, well within the BIS limit of 0.001 mg/L. Levels of cadmium, lead, cyanide, chromium, arsenic and nickel were also found to be below toxic thresholds.

Around 73 cusecs of water is now being continuously supplied to Chennai from the Veeranam tank for drinking purposes, according to K Kantharuban, executive engineer of the WRD. Chennai Metro Water Supply Board is distributing approximately 10 million litres per day (MLD) of this water to the city.


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