Worcester Business School

Water concerns: letter from local residents

Residents of Kunnapattu 
C/o Temple Bay Tours 
Othavadai Street, 
Mahabilipuram 
Tamil Nadu 603104 

2nd June 2020 
Mr Edward Gerter 
APEC Kolath 
Plot No. 38 Kunnapattu Road 
Kunnapattu 
Tamil Nadu, 603105 

Dear Mr Gerter, 
I represent 150 local residents in Kunnapattu. We feel very strongly about your water consumption as it is affecting our village’s water supply. As you are aware, I have written to you on a number of occasions regarding this; we are very worried that Kunnapattu will become an abandoned “dark zone” as there will be no water left for the villagers for drinking, washing or cleaning. Our village water supply from the long established community shared borehole is in danger of drying up altogether, unless you reduce your consumption. 
Since your operation set up 8 years ago, our water supply has decreased year on year. We have monitored the situation, and so have the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board. Below is a summary of their monitoring. It shows falling water levels since APEC opened their Kunnapattu factory. 

Year Average Water Level in Kunnapattu borehole (metres below ground level) 
2010 -2 
2011 -1 
2012 -2 
2013 -5* 
2014 -9 
2015 -12 
2016 -13 
2017 -12 
2018 -12 
2019 -13 
2020 -14 
* The year APEC Kolath set up operation in Kunnapattu 

We have recently become aware that you are extracting water from your boreholes regularly and storing it in tanks, which we are told hold up to 2,000,000 Litres, shown in the photograph below. 
Water tanks 

We urge you to reduce your consumption. We are aware that you have rainwater-harvesting equipment on site, which just needs maintaining. This would really help the villagers. 
We were wondering if you would consider running a pipe from these tanks to our village for the local community to use? 
Yours sincerely 

Vinay Kumar 

Mr. V. Kumar 


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