India’s largest desalination plant, the much-delayed 100,000 m³/d Minjur plant serving Chennai, was inaugurated by Tami Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on 31 July 2010.
A joint venture between IVRCL Infrastructures and Project Ltd and Befessa of Spain, the facility will supply water to the government-run Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board at a cost of Rs 48.74 (US$ 1.05) per m³ for the first 25 years.
Another seawater reverse-osmosis desalination plant with similar capacity is under construction at Nemelli by VA Tech Wabag and expected to be online by 2012. The requirement for Chennai and its adjacent areas is around 1.5 million m³/d, which includes commercial and industrial demand.