A Rs 871-crore desalination plant, which will benefit over 15 lakh residents of south Chennai, was inaugurated today by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at nearby Nemmeli in Kanchipuram district.

About 265 million litres of water will be drawn from the sea to realise 100 MLD (million litres per day) of drinking water through the Rs 871.24-crore plant spread over 40 acres.

The project implemented by Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board will benefit about 15 lakh people in Velachery, Pallipattu and Tiruvanmiyur areas of south Chennai which are also dotted with a slew of IT companies, a State Government release here said.

Jayalalithaa launched the initiative by lighting a lamp.

Listing the technical specifications, the release said various technologies such as disc filter, ultra filtration membrane and reverse osmosis membrane from hydronautics have been sourced from different countries like Israel, Netherlands and Japan.

High-pressured polyethylene pipes have been buried 1,000 m into the seabed to draw water while residual water after desalination would be let back into the sea through pipes laid up to 740 m in the seabed, it said.

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