‘Dyeing units at proposed Salem Textile Park won’t pollute groundwater’

SALEM: Arrangements will be made to recycle and reuse wastewater generated by dyeing units at the proposed Salem Textile Park in Jagirammapalayam to ensure that “not a single drop of sewage goes to the ground,” Salem Yarn Colouring Park chairman A Azhagarasan said on Saturday.The state govt has proposed to set up the textile park at an estimated cost of Rs 880 crore. The facility will have a common purification plant which will be set up at a cost of Rs 200 crore. However, the locals expressed their concern that water from the dyeing units would pollute the groundwater. At a press meet on Saturday, Azhagarasan said not a single drop of sewage from Salem Textile Park would go to the ground. “Through this modern plant, two million litres of wastewater would be drawn daily from Manguttai pond and purified for reuse, eliminating the need for borewell water,” he said.

“There is absolutely no drilling of borewells to extract water or discharging sewage to the ground, as some are currently saying.

The groundwater is not polluted in any way,” he said.Salem Dyeing Factory Owners Association president K T Srinivasan said the project would clean the Thirumanimutharu river and benefit four lakh people engaged in weaving in the district. It would provide direct employment to 15,000 people and indirect employment to 50, 000 people, he said. A public monitoring committee would be established to oversee the project directly, he added.