Chennai’s largest desal plant to be ready by year-end; will benefit 22 lakh people

Tarika.Balakannan@timesofindia.comChennai: The ₹5,814 crore desalination plant, one of the city’s largest infrastructure projects, taking shape at Perur on East Coast Road, is expected to be commissioned by the year-end. Once operational, the 400 million litres per day (MLD) facility will supply drinking water to more than 22 lakh people across Chennai and its expanding suburbs.Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) managing director T Anand, who inspected the project site on Friday, directed officials to expedite the remaining works. Work on the project, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), began in Aug 2023.The project also involves laying nearly 59km of large-diameter transmission pipelines to carry treated drinking water from Perur to various parts of the city. Of this, 37.13km of pipes have already been supplied, while pipeline-laying work is progressing along a 10.32km stretch.The treated water from Perur will be distributed to rapidly urbanising residential, commercial and industrial areas. These include Tambaram, Pammal, Polichalur, parts of Pallavaram, Madambakkam, Sembakkam, Chitlapakkam, Peerkankaranai, Perungalathur, Thiruneermalai, Kundrathur, Mangadu, Thiruporur, Thaiyur, Velichai, Padur, Siruseri, Mambakkam, Sonalur, Ponmar, Thandalam, Kanathur Reddikuppam, Pudupakkam and Kolathur.Officials said major offshore works have also progressed. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipelines with a diameter of 2,500mm were laid along the seabed. Installation of two seawater intake pipelines and a brine discharge pipeline has been completed, while offshore caisson structures have been connected to the system.Works have progressed across several key components of the plant, including the seawater intake structure, reverse osmosis (RO) treatment buildings, clear water reservoirs, product water tanks, sludge treatment facilities, electrical buildings, warehouses and administrative blocks.Chennai currently operates three desalination plants — the 100MLD Minjur plant, the 100MLD Nemmeli plant and the 150MLD Nemmeli Phase-II plant. At present, Chennai receives around 1,230MLD of water from reservoirs, treatment plants and existing desalination facilities.The upcoming Perur plant alone will add another 400MLD, producing more water than all three existing desalination plants combined. Once commissioned, Chennai’s total desalination capacity will rise from 350MLD to 750MLD.