Initially the desalination plant experienced operational issues since the beginning and was shut down most of the time as contractor had installed the desalination plant without dissolved air floatation units leading to severe and regular choking of filters.

[2] was built to provide piped water to residents of south Chennai and the newly merged areas.

[1] The plant, owned by Chennai Metrowater, was constructed by VA Tech Wabag, in consortium with IDE Technologies in Israel,[3] and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Limited laid the 65-km-long pipeline from the plant to various parts of the city and built underground sumps en route.

[4] Underground sumps and water distribution stations are located in Tiruvanmiyur, Velachery, Nemmeli, Kelambakkam, and Akkarai.

[2] The desalination plant experienced problems in the beginning and was shut down most of the time as contractor proposed the design without dissolved air floatation leading to severe and regular choking of filters.

[6] In the first phase of its operation, about 50 MLD of treated water is expected to be transmitted due to plant downtime, with the amount getting stepped up gradually after contactor addressed faulty pre treatment design.

The treated water will be distributed via a 49-km-long pipeline, serving about 900,000 people in southern areas of the city including Alandur, Sholinganallur, Medavakkam, Nanmangalam, Kovilambakkam, and St. Thomas Mount.