Chembarambakkam Water Treatment Plant, India

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 530,000 per day, the new works designed and built by Degrmont
bring the city's total water treatment capacity to 1.28 million cubic meters per day.
The project involved building the plant itself, based on proprietary filtration and
clarification technology, the installation of a SCADA control system and the
construction of more than 15km of supply pipeline to link the new facility to citys
existing supply network.
The total project budget was 51.7m, the plant itself accounting for 25.2m.

BACKGROUND
Situated on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal and with an estimated
population of over seven million, Chennai known as Madras until 1996 is the
capital of Tamil Nadu state, India's fourth biggest city and the country's third
largest commercial / industrial centre.
Historically, the city has always faced a water supply problem, since it has no
convenient large rivers to draw on, leaving Chennai over-dependent on the annual
monsoon rains to top up local water reservoirs. In recent years, however, a variety
of initiatives, including the Telugu Ganga canal, the New Veeranam project and an
extensive programme of rainwater harvesting have made the situation significantly
easier.
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. Degrmont are to operate the facility for the
following seven years.

PLANT DESIGN
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 Degrmont'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.
Flexible and compact, these units are specifically designed to be robust to
variations in both flow and load, demanding very low power consumption and
chemical usage with the further advantage that they are very easily maintained
significant considerations during the plant design phase.
From here, the treated off-take enters the filtration stage. Aquazur filters one of
Degrmont's range of gravity filtration systems reduce the water losses typical of
conventional filters by almost 40% allowing the plant to boast a total loss of less
than one-and-a-half per cent overall.
In addition, with a combined air scour and water backwash, the filter medium
remains un-expanded, leading to reduced media loss, allowing this compact system
to achieve high operational flexibility.
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.

POLLUTION CONCERNS
Some concerns have been expressed principally by the environmental group,
Exnora that a lack of regulation of industrial effluents into the plant's source
water, Chembarambakkam lake, could see levels of persistent organic effluents rise.

If so, this would inevitably threaten the quality of the treated water supplied to the
city. However, a joint study recently conducted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control
Board and the Public Works Department (CMWSSB) suggests that these worries are
without foundation. With the plant recently entering service, the following months
seem likely to see this issue resolved, one way or the other.

KEY PLAYERS
The project was sponsored by the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage
Board, with Degrmont as main contractor, their long-standing Indian partner being
ANAND. The new plant was funded by the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and
Infrastructure Development Corporation an Indian Government development fund
to the tune of 18.7m with the French state providing the remaining 6.6m.

<Key Facts>
Key Data
Raw Water Source

Chembarambakkam Lake

Capacity

530,000/day

Population Served

4 million

Filtration

High-rate Aquazur V filters

Clarification

Pulsator type sludge blanket clarifiers

Water Loss

1.5 %(entire plant)

Water Quality Targets

Colour
Turbidity
pH
Residual Aluminium
Faecal coliforms
Total Coliforms

5 Pt-Co (Colourless)
1.0 NTU
7.5 8.5
0.1mg/l
nil
nil

Plant Management

SCADA

New Pipeline

15.5km

Project Cost Treatment Plant

25.2m

Project Total

51.7m

Project Time line

Initial Project Approval

1996

Design, Construct,
Operate Contract Awarded

May 2005

Construction Completed

April 2007

Formal Opening

July 2007

Operational Contract Duration

7 years

Key Players
Project Sponsor

Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board

Main Contractor

Degrmont

Indian Partner

ANAND

Funding

Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure

Development Corporation (18.7m), French State
(6.6m)

The new plant brings Chennais total The port of Chennai; the city is the
water treatment capacity to 1.28 million capital of Tamil Nadu state, India's fourth
cubic meters per day.
biggest city and the countrys third
largest commercial / industrial centre.

One of the plant's thickeners. The plant Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, Dr. Kalaignar
was designed to provide a highly efficient M
Karunanidhi
(centre)
and
other
treatment, with minimal water losses and dignitaries at the new plant's formal
optimal land usage.
inauguration on 19 July 2007.

The new plant is one of a number or

initiatives over recent years to ease the
city's chronic water shortage.

The new plant under construction. It is

designed to meet the needs of around
four million people out of the citys The new plant under construction; the
facility was designed and built in 24
estimated population of seven million.
months.