Chennai will have four more sewage treatment facilities in a few months along the city’s major waterways.
Work to build modular sewage treatment plants in three locations along the Adyar and the Cooum and tertiary treatment ultra filtration plant at Langs Garden are nearing completion. The modular STP at Chetpet was inaugurated last month.
Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is expected to complete the work on two modular STPs, taken up at an estimate of ₹4.31 crore, on the right bank of the Adyar near Kotturpuram by July. The two plants would have a combined capacity to treat six lakh litres of sewage daily, the officials said.
The water board is building modular STPs with a total capacity to treat 4 million litres daily at the Todhunter Nagar sewage pumping station. These facilities near Mambalam canal at Saidapet would be ready by September.
Officials said once the modular STPs and laying of pipelines are completed, nearly 39 sewage outfalls would be plugged in the Adyar. A similar project was being executed in Nandanam extension, Turn Bulls Road, Samiyar Thottam and Jafferkhanpet to mitigate the pollution of waterways.
The pace of work on the tertiary treatment ultrafiltration plant at Langs Garden has been accelerated. This would be the city’s third TTUF facility with a capacity to treat 10 million litres of sewage daily. Officials said the plant, which is based on moving bed biofilm reactor treatment technology and ultrafiltration, would supply reclaimed water to the Southern Railway and the Greater Chennai Corporation.
A portion of the sewage pumped to Kodungaiyur plant would be treated at the new TTUF facility. This would reduce the burden on pumping facilities and the network and address the sewage overflow issues. The remaining amount of treated sewage would be discharged into the Cooum.
Of the 12 units, work is in progress to build three more treatment units and the plant would be ready for operation by the year end, officials said. Another modular STP with a capacity to treat 1.2 million litres daily coming up at Nungambakkam would become functional in three or four months.
Thirty seven sewage outfalls in the Cooum have been plugged so far through work to divert raw sewage in localities, including Anna Nagar, N.S.K. Nagar and Spur Tank Road. These projects were taken up under the aegis of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust.
Simultaneously, projects to provide underground drainage system in added areas, including Nerkundram, are being executed to mitigate sewage pollution. Moreover, 61 additional sewage outfalls have been identified in the Cooum in city limits. The water agency would initiate short-term steps to plug them.
