While several projects have already begun, new proposals have been chalked out to increase the capacity of the sewage pumping stations and provide drinking water supply to the left-out streets in north Chennai. | Photo Credit: M. VEDHAN
A solution seems closer to the decades-long issue of frequent sewage overflow and gaps in water supply in the densely populated areas of north Chennai.
Tenders are set to be floated for projects to improve water and sewer infrastructure under the Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam by June. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metrowater) is preparing estimates to replace the old sewer, water infrastructure, improve the sewage collection system and initiate drinking water supply in unserved merged areas, officials said.
The State government had earlier announced the Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam to address the deficiencies in the infrastructure in north Chennai. The sewer network laid in north Chennai is the oldest in the city and consists of brick gravity sewers, served by pumping stations in places such as Royapuram and Purasawalkam since 1914.
To keep pace with the growing needs of the expanding metropolis, the water agency has chalked out projects to upgrade the network in chronically affected areas. It had hired Sai Consultants to study the decades-old sewerage and water supply infrastructure in the core parts of north Chennai. Of the 560.97 million liters of sewage treated daily (mld), nearly 159 mld is received and treated in Kodungaiyur sewage treatment plant (STP). It also has a 45 mld tertiary treatment reverse osmosis plant added to supply treated water to industrial belt in north Chennai. Metrowater officials said 49 projects would be carried out over the next three years to strengthen and modify the network to address sewage issues and water contamination apart from providing adequate piped water supply. While several projects have already begun, new proposals have been chalked out to increase the capacity of the sewage pumping stations and provide drinking water supply to the left-out streets.
The long-awaited comprehensive sewerage project in Chinnasekkadu has reached its final stages and will soon be inaugurated. Some of the sewer works to be taken up in the first phase include sewer network to be merged areas in Edayanchavadi, Puzhal, Vadaperumbakkam and new pipelines between sewage pumping stations in Royapuram and improved sewage collection system in Kolathur and Periyar Nagar.
Metrowater also plans to enlarge sewer pipelines in various areas such as Tiruvottiyur, Perambur, Tondiarpet and RK Nagar and construct a 6-mld modular STP to treat sewage collected at Kilijosium Nagar, Tiruvottiyur.
Officials said works were under way to provide piped water supply to additional areas in Manali and Puzhal and replace old water pipelines in RK Nagar and Perambur. In the next three years, choked water lines in areas such as RK Nagar, Royapuram, Perambur, Kolathur, Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, and Egmore would be replaced. These projects would reduce pollution in north Buckingham canal, officials added.
