The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) plans to resume work to lay the second pipeline to distribute water from the Chembarambakkam water treatment plant. This will facilitate conveying the maximum quantity of treated water to the city.
The water agency plans to approach the State Highways Department for permission to take up work on Poonamallee High Road and call for the tender.
It may be recalled that the water agency had started work in 2013 to lay a second water transmission pipeline from the facility in Chembarambakkam, which can treat up to 530 million litres a day (mld). The ₹43.75-crore project aimed at laying the 2,000-m dia pipeline along Poonamallee High Road for a distance of 6.5 km from the plant to Poonamallee bypass junction near Maduravoyal.
Sources in the water agency said work had been pending for a nearly 530-m stretch on Poonamallee High Road as its course was near the incomplete pillars of the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Corridor. The contract was cancelled in March 2019 due to a delay in the project, and the wait for permission from the National Highways Authority of India also led to a break in the project.
The second pipeline from Chembarambakkam plant would be linked to the existing infrastructure near the Koyambedu grade separator. This would enable supply to the central and southern areas and even to certain northern parts of the city. Moreover, it would help supply merged areas en route, including Nerkundram.
Since its inception in 2007, the Chembarambakkam plant had not been operated to its full capacity even when the reservoir had ample resources. This was due to lack of an adequate distribution network. At present, only about 260 mld is being treated and supplied through the pipeline to Porur from where it reaches some central and southern areas.
As on Tuesday, the water agency is providing nearly 1,033 mld of water to the city and to industries and neighbouring local bodies.
Once the second pipeline is fully laid, an additional 250 mld could be conveyed to the city within a year. Residents of areas, including West Mambalam, Saidapet, Koyambedu, Vadapalani and Mylapore, would receive better water supply.
Those in the southern suburbs, including Anakaputhur and Pammal, were already receiving 18-20 mld of water from the Chembarambakkam plant through another pipeline, officials added.
