31.7.10

Minjur desalination plant to open today


After an inordinate delay, the much-awaited desalination plant at Minjur, which will supply 100 million litres a day (MLD) of potable water to meet the growing water requirements of Chennai city, is all set to be inaugurated by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Saturday.The Rs 600-crore desalination plant at Minjur in north Chennai, said to be the largest such facility in South Asia, will supply water to the Chennai Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Supply Board (CMWSSB) at a rate of Rs 48.74 per 1,000 litres. The plant will cater to the needs of the industrial belt and areas surrounding the Minjur aquifer in north Chennai.
The plant would be operated for 25 years on a DBOOT (design, build, own, operate and transfer) basis by Chennai Water Desalination Ltd (CWDL), a special purpose vehicle incorporated by IVRCL Infrastructures and Project Ltd in partnership with Befesa Agua, Spain, before it is handed over to the CMWSSB. A bulk water
purchase agreement was signed between the CWDL and CMWSSB in September 2005 for the implementation of the project. The plant, which was originally scheduled for commissioning in 2008, suffered a delay due to various reasons, including rough sea conditions, change of government in the state and cyclone Nisha. The delay had cost the company Rs 60 crore more, IVRCL managing director S Ramachandran said. The conversion rate of the plant, which uses reverse osmosis (RO) technology for desalination process, was 45%. The plant had already begun commercial operations on July 23, he said. Describing the project as “challenging,” Ramachandran said the Maharashtra government had evinced interest in setting up a similar plant in that state and had deputed a team of officials to the Minjur plant for a study.Though the project was originally conceived by the earlier AIADMK government, it gained momentum only after the DMK assumed power in 2006.
A second desalination plant with a similar capacity is being set up at Nemmeli on the East Coast Road by VA Tech Wabag in partnership with IDE Technologies, Israel. The plant is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2011. The CMWSSB has chosen public sector undertaking Mecon Limited for the management and supervision of the project till its completion.The process of desalination involves drawal of sea water by gravity from an intake tower erected 635 metres from the shoreline, and putting the sea water through pre-treatment, followed by a three-stage filtration. The main treatment involves pressurising the water and sending it through a sequence of membranes. The plant has a set of five reserve osmosis modules, each producing 20 MLD of desalinated water. The desalinated water is treated and disinfected before being supplied to the city.

1 comment:

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