From Friday, the city will have a new source of drinking water.
The second desalination plant in the State, located on East Coast Road at Nemmeli with a capacity to treat 100 million litres a day (MLD) of seawater, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday.
Of the project estimate of Rs. 908 crore, a grant of nearly Rs. 871 crore was sought from the Central government.
Over the past few days, the plant was run on a trial basis. The inauguration of the plant comes at a time when the other water sources in the city are fast drying up.
The desalinated water from Nemmeli plant will offset the shortage due to loss of water from Veeranam tank.
The desalinated water from Nemmeli will cater to the drinking water needs of south Chennai and extended areas in the southern fringes.
While VA Tech Wabag was entrusted with the construction of the plant, L&T Limited laid a 64.371-km-long pipeline from the plant and built underground sumps enroute.
Sources at Chennai Metrowater said unlike the first desalination plant at Kattupalli near Minjur with the same capacity, the Nemmeli plant would be owned by Chennai Metrowater. At present, about 810 MLD is supplied to the city.
