Chembarambakkam Lake

The Chembarambakkam Lake, one of the city's main drinking water sources, is under "green attack". It is losing water due to the invasion by aquatic vegetation, according to a study done by the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics, Sathyabama Deemed University. The centre is a collaborative venture of the varsity and the Indian Space Research Organisation.

With the formal inauguration of the new Chembarambakkam Water Treatment Plant (WTP) the second largest of its kind in India in July 2007, the city of Chennai took a major step towards putting its perennial water problems firmly behind it Adding 530,000ml per day, the new works designed and built by Degromont bring the city's total water treatment capacity to 128 million cubic meters per day "It was designed around providing highly efficient treatment, minimal water losses and optimum land usage".

The total project budget was 517m, the plant itself accounting for 252m. The Chembarambakkam WTP project gained its initial approval in 1996 and nine years later in May 2005 the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) awarded the contract to design, construct and operate the facility to meet the needs of the city's growing population. The plant itself was designed and built in 24 months construction being completed in the spring of 2007, followed by a three month trial run ahead of its formal opening by Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, Dr Kalaignar M Karunanidhi Degromont are to operate the facility for the following seven years.

Chembarambakkam WTP is India's second largest single stage water treatment facility and makes use of state-of-the-art, proven technologies appropriate to the sub-continent's conditions. It was designed around providing highly efficient treatment, minimal water losses and optimum land usage At the heart of the system are Degromont's patented Aquazur V filters and Pulsator clarifiers which offer high operational flexibility and low running costs for a small overall footprint.

Raw water drawn from the Chembarambakkam Lake arrives at the plant and initially tumbles through a cascade feature, before flowing first to the distribution chamber and then into the pulsator clarifiers "Adding 530,000m per day, the new works bring the city's total water treatment capacity to 128 million per day".

Filtered product water flows to the plant's treated water reservoir, before finally entering the city's distribution system Filter wastewater is conveyed to recovery tanks settled solids entering thickeners along with solids from the clarifier stage, while the liquid is returned to the initial cascade Solids from the thickeners are centrifuged and the sludge sent for disposal, while the recovered water is returned once again to the cascade Plant operation is fully automated and managed using a SCADA system.