In February 2021, The New Indian Express reported that a regional committee of India's environment ministry had issued stage-1 approval for a desalination plant in the Koonimedu forest of Villupuram district. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) was to build it on 16 hectares. Designed for 72.06 million litres a day (about 72,000 m³/d), serving 692 villages, with 3.30 million litres (3,300 m³/d) reserved for the SIPCOT industrial area at Tindivanam. Some 2,093 trees were to be cut, offset by 32.47 hectares of new forest.
The report showed the environmental scrutiny facing a coastal project in Tamil Nadu: the committee had first deferred the plant over tree felling, land demand and possible effects on fishing hamlets.
Source: The New Indian Express