The Tamil Nadu state government in India is preparing a detailed project report to set up a third desalination plant with a 200,000 m³/d capacity to meet the growing water needs of the city of Chennai, according to a report in the Times Of India on 7 January 2011.
K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, secretary of the Municipal Administration & Water Supply Department, announced the project at the inauguration of a conference on water partnerships towards meeting climate change held in Chennai on 6 January 2011.
Shetty said that Chennai was expecting a 400,000 m³/d water shortage once the city limit expands from 174 sq km to 430 sq km. Although 200,000 m³/d could be supplied from the two 100,000 m³/d desalination plants in Minjur and Nemmeli, there would still be a shortage of 200,000 m³/d.