Metro water readies IT corridor project
Water demand on OMR between 40 and 70mld
By : k. karthikeyan
Update: 2014-09-02 06:03 GMT
Chennai: Chennai Metro Water (CMWSSB) is contemplating an ambitious project aimed at meeting the water requirement of IT majors on OMR by utilising its two sewage treatment plants at Perungudi.
Senior CMWSSB sources revealed to DC that they had engaged M/s ITCOT Consultancy and Services Ltd to conduct a detailed study of the water demand of human resource-based industries on OMR.
A rough estimate put the water demand of the IT and ITES majors on OMR at between 40 and 70mld, the sources added. CMWSSB has a 60mld and 50mld capacity sewage treatments plant at Perungudi.
At least 70 per cent of the plant capacity could be tertiary treated and sold to the IT and ITES companies, which pay up to Rs 1,500 per tankerload of water currently, much higher than the price metro water would sell at.
The industries would be more than willing to procure tertiary treated reverse osmosis (TTRO) water from CMWSSB as the quality would be much better than what the private players currently supply.
Unlike conventional recycling of sewage water, the TTRO process involves pre-treatment, secondary treatment and tertiary treatment, followed by reverse osmosis, which makes the end product as good as drinking water.
Most IT companies have in-house water treatment plants or buy bubble top water from private players and procurement of water for other “domestic” purposes is their major cause of concern, said CMWSSB officials, adding that it was this area that they have planned to tap.