The Nemelli desalination plant has brought cheer into the lives of many residents of South Chennai with the distribution of water last month.
The Rs 871.24-crore plant, which was opened by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on February 22 this year, is now quenching the thirst of residents with water being supplied through conveying mains and various pump houses to the locations of Thiruvanmiyur, Velachery, Pallipattu and the IT Corridor.
Metro Water did not supply water initially as engineers were busy flushing the pipes. Once the work was completed, water was supplied to many areas in Indira Nagar, Beasant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur and PTC Colony.
Water supply to many of these locations was defective and some had no water supply. Now with the supply of desalination water to these areas, the thirst of residents has been quenched.
Interestingly, the desalination plant also supplies water to the newly added areas of the Chennai Corporation, which were surviving on bore wells and water tankers. It is believed that many borewells in these areas have been defunct for more than seven years. The areas include AGS Colony, Swaminathan Nagar, Vaidegi Nagar and Caronat Ground in the Kottivakkam division, Senthil Nagar, Manikodi Srinivasan Nagar in the Perungudi division, Subburaya Nagar, Kasturibai Nagar and Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in the Thoraipakkam division and Kumaran Nagar, Anna Street and Gangaiamman Koil Street in Sholinganallur.
As the demand for water increases due to the expansion of the city, Metro Water is planning to build another 400-MLD desalination plant in Nemelli to satisfy the further demands of residents.
One of the main goals of the 12th Plan is to provide 135 litres per capita per day of piped water supply across all parts of the Corporation of Chennai by 2017. Currently, over a third of the Corporations and municipalities are provided with more than 110 litres per capita per day (LPCD) of water, while nearly two-third continue to get average to poor supply that needs to be rectified as a priority.