The year-long wait is over. South Chennai need not rely on the rain-fed reservoirs alone for its water needs.
The much-awaited second desalination plant along East Coast Road, at Nemmeli, 36 km south of Chennai, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday.
In a couple of days, nearly 15 lakh people of southern Chennai and the expanded areas — especially Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, Pallipattu and areas adjoining the IT Corridor such as Karapakkam — will be supplied desalinated water from the plant that has a capacity to treat 100 million litres of sea water per day (mld). Metrowater is flushing the newly-laid pipelines and the plant will function to its full capacity by March. The plant, which was to be inaugurated last year, was delayed due to the extra time needed for sinking pipelines to draw raw water and release brine.
The new source of water has been commissioned at an opportune moment as a water crisis looms large with the four major reservoirs that cater to the city’s drinking water needs drying up fast for want of rain. The Water Resources Department recently suspended providing water to the city from the Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district as its water level had dipped to nearly 30 million cubic feet.
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