In a few years, Chennai will have one more desalination plant dotting its shoreline to cater to its growing water needs. Chennai Metrowater has started the process to set up a desalination plant at Perur, and has called for expression of interest from consultants for project management services.
This comes after the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Environment Ministry recently recommended for the Coastal Regulation Zone clearance of the project. The chosen consultant would be required to assist in planning the execution of the project to build a plant with a capacity to treat 400 million litres of water a day along the East Coast Road.
The interested firms would be shortlisted and a tender would be floated to finalise the consultant. It will take three months for the process to be completed.
While the concurrence from KfW, the German funding agency, is awaited for starting the 150 mld desalination plant in Nemmeli, the process is on to construct the fourth desalination plant with the financial assistance from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
The plant would cater to nearly 22.67 lakh people in areas such as Tambaram, Pallavaram, Madambakkam, Kundrathur and Kattankulathur. Metrowater considers desalination plants to be a significant choice to sustain water supply in a city without a perennial source to rely on. However, environment experts note that the restoration of waterbodies in the Chennai Metropolitan area would be a more sustainable solution for water resources management. S.Janakarajan, president, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, said the operation and maintenance cost of desalination plants were high. The discharge of brine would also affect the marine life close to the shoreline.
There are nearly 4,100 water bodies in the proposed expanded Chennai Metropolitan Area. They have a potential to store 150 thousand million cubic feet. Restoration of these tanks would provide a sustainable solution to the city’s water crisis and also help mitigate urban floods, he said.
Pointing out that the water agency was involved in rejuvenation efforts of lakes, officials said desalination was considered as an effective buffer in the city with source constraints. Restoration of waterbodies was a complex challenge and long term process. Their sustainability as drinking water resources also depends on many factors.
