Chennai MetroWater Supply and Sewage Board

Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board
Public Sector Undertaking
Industry Water Supply, Sewage, Sewage Treatment, Desalination
Founded 1978
Headquarters Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Area served
 Tamil Nadu, India
Products Water
Website

Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board known as CMWSSB to provide Water supply and sewage treatment to the city of Chennai and around areas of Chennai.

Chennai is one of the metros in India which is dependent mostly on ground water supply. Ground water in Chennai is replenished by rain water and average rainfall in Chennai is 1276 mm.[1] Chennai receives about 985 million liters per day (mld) from various sources against the required amount of 1200 mld and the demand is expected to rise to 2100 mld by 2031. The newly constructed Minjur desalination plant adds another 100 mlds to the city's growing demand.

As of 2012, Chennai Metrowater supplies about 830 million litres of water every day to residents and commercial establishments.[2]

RESERVOIRS

Chennai has fresh water reservoirs/lakes namely Poondi, Sholavaram, Red Hills, Chembarambakkam, Veeranam to cater the daily needs of water for chennai area.

Chennai receives most of its water from Poondi Lake (3,231 Mcft), Sholavaram Lake (881 Mcft), Red Hills Lake (3,300 Mcft) and Chembarambakkam Lake (3,645 Mcft).

The Veeranam Water Supply Project was implemented as additional source of water to Chennai City. The Project was commissioned in the year 2004 to supply 180 MLD of water to Chennai City by drawing water from Veeranam Lake. This lake receives water from Cauvery River system through Kollidam, Lower Anicut and Vadavar Canal besides rainwater from its own catchment area. The capacity of the lake is 1465 Mcft. The lake water is treated at Vadakuthu Water Treatment Plant by pumping raw water at a distance of 20 km. from Sethiathope to Vadakuthu through 1775 mm dia mild steel pipe. The treated water is then pumped at a distance of 8 km. to Break Pressure Tank at Kadampuliyur through 1750 mm dia mild steel pipe and from there the water is conveyed to a distance of about 200 km. through the mild steel pipe of 1875 mm and 1500 mm dia by gravity to Porur Water Distribution Station near Chennai. From this Distribution Station, water is pumped to a distance of 1.2 km. and distributed to Chennai City through Trunk mains and Water Distribution stations.[3]

Reverse Osmosis & Desalination

Chennai has Reverse osmosis plants namely at Velachery, Nochikuppam, Kasimedu, and Ayodhyakuppam. It takes raw Brackish water from bore wells, stores in tanks and then it purifies before supply.

Desalination plant is located in at Kattupalli, Minjur. The Chennai Water Desalination Ltd. (CWDL) is setting the plant infrastructure and maintaining the plant for 25 years as per agreement between CWDL and CMWSSB. The CMWSSB purchase water from them and supplies to the city network through Madhavaram Booster Station.

In an effort to alleviate the woes of Chennaiites, Tamil Nadu Government has forged into projects acquiring fresh water by desalinating sea water. The first such desalination plant was built in 60 acres (240,000 m2) in Kattupalli village near Minjur about 35 km north of Chennai. Minjur desalination plant which supplies 100 million litres a day water to Chennai city was inaugurated on July 31, 2010.[4] Second water desalination plant of 100mld capacity constructed and commissioned at Nemmeli, South of Chennai City.[5]

The Water Treatment Plants are:

Sewage

Chennai City Sewage System was designed in 1910 for an estimated 1961 population of 6.6 lakhs. A comprehensive improvement to the city sewerage system was designed in 1958 for an estimated 1976 population of 25.5 lakhs and 1991 population of 27.2 lakhs at a sewage flow rate of 110 lpcd in 1976 and 180 lpcd in 1991; the city was also divided into five zones with proposals for five independent disposal works. It was planned to isolate the system of collection, transmission and disposal of sewage in each zone in order to obviate the difficulties of the relay system. Presently the sewerage network in Chennai city has covered 98% of its area. As the capacity of sewers was limited, during rainy days they became surcharged due to ingress of storm water. Any surplus of sewage in excess of pumping stations capacity was drained into the nearby natural water courses of the city viz. Cooum river, Adyar river, Buckingham canal and Otteri Nalla. The following are the Sewage Treatment Plants of CMWSSB as on February 2014 1)Kodungaiyur 270mld (110+80+80), 2)Villivakkam 5mld 3)Koyambedu 94mld (34+60)4)Nesapakkam 117mld (23+40+54) and 5)Perungudi 126mld (54+60+12)totalling to 612mld (million litres per day)of which 378mld is powered by Biogas (produced during the Sewage Treatment)engines.

Rain Water Harvesting

The importance of conservation of water and rainwater harvesting can not be understated. While issuing Planning Permission for construction of major developments such as flats, residential developments, office, shopping and other commercial complexes, the condition to provide rain water-harvesting structures within the premises was put and ensured to be provided before issue of Completion Certificates. Provision of rainwater structures in all types of developments, irrespective of size or use was made mandatory by amending DCR and Building Byelaws in the year 2001, not only for the buildings proposed to be constructed but also for all the existing buildings. After implementation of this scheme widely in CMA, a significant increase in the ground water levels and also quality of ground water was noted.

Contamination

The water quality in Chennai is a long way to reach International standards as outlined in this study published on April 2007. Researchers from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Chennai Zonal Laboratory, Chennai found Cryptosporidium oocytes in Chennai water. Cryptosporidium is an enteric parasitic protozoan capable of causing diarrhea.[6]

Expansion

As of 2011, MetroWater is catering for a population of 5 million. With the expansion of the corporation area in 2011 from 174 sq km to 426 sq km, which increased the number of wards of the Chennai Corporation from 155 to 200 and the number of zones from 10 to 15, MetroWater's customer base is expected to increase by an additional 1.7 million when the new areas are covered. The number of area offices of MetroWater would also be changed to correspond with the Corporation's zones. While the existing 155 depot offices of MetroWater would be reduced to 107, 93 new depot offices would be added from merged areas. At present, each depot office serves a population of about 50,000. Since two or three wards have been merged into one, the coverage of the depot office would increase by 20,000. There are also proposals to construct sewage treatment plants in Mangadu and Villivakkam as part of the plans to build new infrastructure for the newly merged areas.[7]

See also

References

External links