iPhone Plant's 'Chemical Water' Floods Tamil Nadu Farms

Farmers in Ullukurukkai village, Krishnagiri district, are facing crop damage due to alleged effluent discharge from the Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) iPhone manufacturing plant. Water overflowing from the plant's percolation ponds has flooded adjacent farmlands, with farmers insisting it is not mere rainwater but contaminated "chemical water." The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) issued a show-cause notice in May 2026, highlighting water samples with excessively high TDS, BOD, and COD levels.

Initial optimism about TEPL's arrival in 2021 has soured for farmers like Pushparaj, who now leads protests. Concerns escalated in December 2025 when a sewage treatment plant malfunction reportedly discharged untreated water into a rainwater pond. While TEPL claims to be a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) unit, internal accounts suggest trade effluents may bypass treatment systems and be discharged during nighttime or rain, mixed with less contaminated water to meet permissible limits.

Farm yields have plummeted; one farmer reported a drastic reduction in cucumber harvest compared to previous years. The well water, once pristine, now allegedly stinks and is unsuitable for drinking or farming, with TDS levels exceeding safe limits. Farmers suspect this contamination seeps into their wells from the plant's effluent ponds. The district collector, while assuring that the plant's facilities are adequate, has ordered continuous TDS monitoring and may require the plant to line its ponds.