CHENNAI: CM C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for a Rs 3,108.55-crore ring pipeline network to strengthen drinking water supply across Greater Chennai Corporation limits, enabling water to be diverted to affected areas during supply disruptions.
The project, to be implemented by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water) with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aims to interconnect nine water treatment and desalination plants and ensure an uninterrupted supply to all 143 water distribution stations across the city.
At present, water from individual treatment plants is supplied to designated areas through dedicated trunk pipelines. The existing infrastructure does not provide adequate alternative arrangements to supply water to affected localities when disruptions occur at a particular source. The proposed ring network is intended to address this gap by allowing water to be redistributed according to demand, a government release said.
The project includes laying 91.20 km of ring pipelines, 64.20 km of water transmission pipelines and 2.65 km of pumping mains, along with associated construction works.
The network will integrate five drinking water treatment plants, three existing seawater desalination plants and the 400 million litres per day (MLD) desalination plant being constructed at Perur, taking the total to nine facilities.
Chennai currently receives 1,260 MLD of treated drinking water through 143 distribution stations, serving around 91 lakh people. Water is sourced from reservoirs including Poondi, Puzhal, Cholavaram, Chembarambakkam, Veeranam and Kannankottai-Thervoy Kandigai, besides Krishna river water.