🚰 CM Vijay Lays Foundation for ₹3,108 Crore Chennai Ring Main Water Project

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Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay laid the foundation stone on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, for the ₹3,108.55 crore Chennai Ring Main project at the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s pumping station in Sholinganallur.

The project will join Chennai’s drinking water sources into a single loop, so that water from any reservoir, treatment plant or desalination plant can be sent to whichever part of the city needs it.

The Problem It Solves

Chennai’s 91 lakh residents get about 1,260 million litres of water a day through 143 distribution stations. Today, each reservoir and treatment plant feeds the city through its own separate main. If one source fails or runs short, there is no way to reroute surplus water from another source to the affected areas.

What Will Be Built

• A closed-loop ring main of corrosion-resistant iron and steel pipes around the city — about 98 km of network. The breakdown: 91.20 km of ring pipelines, 64.20 km of transmission mains and 2.65 km of pumping mains.
• Nine facilities linked: five water treatment plants, the three working desalination plants at Minjur and Nemmeli, and the 400 MLD desalination plant under construction at Perur.
• A SCADA control system with real-time sensors for pressure, flow and water quality, run from a control room at the Chennai Water Board headquarters.
• Designed to handle about 1,762 million litres a day; because water keeps circulating in the loop, it stays fresher and pressure stays steady.

Funding and Timeline

The project is funded with assistance from the Asian Development Bank and will be carried out by Chennai Metrowater. Work is to be completed within about four and a half years, by 2031.

At the Site

Vijay studied the project drawings, asked officials about its technical features, planted saplings at the pumping station and greeted people who lined the route.

Why It Matters

The ring main is the long-term answer to the problem Chennai faces every summer and in every flood: one source runs low or goes out of service, and whole neighbourhoods go dry while water sits unused elsewhere. Coming a day after reports that Andhra Pradesh will release more Krishna water to the city, it shows a two-track approach — securing more water now and building a network that can share it fairly across all of Chennai.

Chennai Water Ring Main Metrowater ADB Sholinganallur Day 158