Desalinated water to cost the same

Desalination-PlantThe Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has said that the water from the city's fist desalination plant will cost the same as water supplied from other sources.

The water supply and availability scenario in Chennai has improved however it still faces the prospects of drought which occurs once in four years on an average. The last time the city faced such problems was in 2004 when the there was not piped water supply for nine months.

The city consumes about 570 MLD of water a day and the two desalination plants will have the capacity to produce 200 MLD helping the government augment supplies. The Minjur plant in the north will supply water to the industrial and domestic units while the Nemmeli plant in the south which is to open in December 2011 will cater to the new southern extensions of the city.

The government has laid down the foundation stone for the desalination plant at Nemmeli on East Coast Road on Tuesday. The union government is also funding the project. A cabinet committee had approved the project and sanctioned Rs 871.24 crore but the project was not implemented under the previous regime.

The union government has already given Rs 300 crore for the project. The plant will be constructed on 40.05 acre of land belonging to Alavandar Trust, which is under the Hindu Religious and Charitable endowments department.

The land has been leased to Metro Water for 30 years with a rent of 1.12 lakh per month with a provision of 15 per cent increase once in three years and the contract to build the plant is worth Rs 533.38 crore.

V A Tech Wabag Limited in consortium with IDE Technologies in Israel were awarded the contract for building the plant while, Mecom Limited in consortium with Adeco Technologies bagged 13.46 crore contract for the PMC for the plant. L&T won the contract of Rs 121.47 crore works on conveyance system.

An official of the water supply department outlined that city has four water reservoirs as sources of water along with water from Veeranam and Krishna rivers. The board supplies about 95 litres per capita per day against the ideal
150 LPCD.

The demand in the city is expected to touch 2,248 MLD by 2026 and the availability pegged at 1,615 MLD, thus the government is looking into new sources of water, he explained.

He outlined that even though the government has to spend more for water from desalination, the consumers will not be charged more. The board has also appointed an agency to find out new sources of water to provide 15 tmc ft of water.