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This is an archive article published on June 28, 2019

Tamil Nadu Govt to begin work for Chennai’s third seawater desalination plant

At a time when Chennai metro water authority is struggling to maintain the normal supply of water with all four major lakes dried up, two existing desalination plants are supplying about 180 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) drinking water.

tamil nadu water crisis, water crisis tamil nadu, chennai seawater desalination plant, chennais third seawater desalination plant, e Palaniswami, india news Tamil Nadu Chief minister E Palaniswami. (File)

Amidst a huge water crisis that is forcing government to bring drinking water from far away places to Chennai city, the state government on Thursday laid the foundation stone for city’s third seawater desalination plant worth Rs 1,259 crore in Kancheepuram district, south of Chennai. At a time when Chennai metro water authority is struggling to maintain the normal supply of water with all four major lakes dried up, two existing desalination plants are supplying about 180 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) drinking water.

CM Palaniswami said the third plant with a capacity of 150 MLD production would come up at Nemmeli in Kancheepuram and will be completed by the end of 2021. The project is expected to benefit at least nine lakh people in various parts of south Chennai after it is commissioned.

The third plant, which was first announced by the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in 2013 and the two existing plants are situated at Minjur, which caters to the water needs of northern Chennai areas, and Nemmeli supplies water for south Chennai.

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The government statement said the cost of the new plant will be shared as a loan from German firm Kfw, Rs 700 crores, and the remaining cost will be used from the subsidy under Centre’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

Southern Chennai regions including Alandur and St Thomas Mount near the Chennai international airport, and Sholinganallur, a thickly populated residential neighbourhood on city’s industrial corridor, Old Mahabalipuram Road, and the Rajiv Gandhi Salai known for several IT companies will be benefited from the new plant.

CM Palaniswami said the government will soon launch the work for a 400 MLD capacity plant at Perur at an estimated cost of Rs 6,078.40 crore with the help of a financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and using the state funds.

As the light rains in the city in the past one week was not adequate to recharge the ground water tables, CM Palaniswami on Thursday said the government will make it mandatory for industries and multi-storeyed structures to have water recycling systems to get their building plan approvals. Reminding that only heavy rains would help to recharge and improve the storage of city’s lakes, he said the government has been very clear on shifting focus to the necessity of recycling of used water too, especially in high consumption sectors including large industries.

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He said plan approvals for industries or multi-storeyed structures will be cleared by the government only if they have recycling centres. He said it would help to save 50 per cent of water.

He said the government is taking necessary steps to bring water from Jolarpettai to Chennai in rail wagons.

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