Piped water supply to several areas in south Chennai may be affected for 15 days, from March 17, as Chennai Metrowater plans to take up work at the Nemmeli desalination plant, that has a capacity to treat 100 million litres of seawater a day.
The water agency will fix the travelling band screen, a self-cleaning screen in the seawater intake structure, at the desalination plant. The work will be taken up between 6 a.m. on March 17 and 6 a.m. on April 1.
Due to the work, piped water supply to areas 9, 13, 14 and 15 will be affected. The localities include Thiruvanmiyur, Kottivakkam, Perungudi, Adyar, Velachery, Besant Nagar, Mandaveli, Sholinganallur and Neelankarai.
Metrowater officials said that maintenance work was frequently taken up at the plant to manually remove materials such as shells and molluscs from the seawater intake unit. This slowed down the flow of water and the treatment process.
“Water sources are in a better position compared to last year. So It was decided to fit the screen that will automatically remove the materials, every day. This will help decrease the number of shutdown days for maintenance,” said an official.
Metrowater plans to bridge the shortfall in drinking water supply by sourcing from a pipeline that brings water from the Veeranam tank. It will be intercepted in Sholinganallur and water supplied to the affected areas.
A press release said that residents may store water in advance. For tanker supply, residents may contact Area Engineer, Area IX- 8144930909; Area Engineer, Area XIII- 8144930913; Area Engineer, Area XIV- 8144930914; and Area Engineer, Area XV- 8144930915.
