Water connection charges for houses of less than 500 sq.ft have been reduced to Rs. 100, according to M.K. Stalin, Local Administration and Rural Development Minister. This was being done to enable people belonging to economically weaker sections of society to get the water connection easily, he said, wrapping up the debate in the Assembly on the demand for grants to his departments. [In February, Chennai Metrowater hiked the water connection charges. At that time, the charges per dwelling unit were fixed at Rs. 5,000 for houses with plinth area up to 1,000 sq.ft. For residential buildings in the range of 1,000 sq. ft-2,000 sq.ft., the charges had been determined at Rs. 7,500. A spokesperson of Chennai Metrowater says that there is no other change in the tariff scheme. Annually, 10,000 to 11,000 new connections are taken. The data are not available as to the share of the dwelling units of less than 500 sq.ft. in the overall figure of new connections]. The Minister said the government had decided to appoint a consultant to examine the possibilities of identifying new sources for the city to overcome the shortage of drinking water in future. By 2021, the Chennai Metropolitan Area would have a shortage of about 400 million litres a day (MLD) and by 2026, 650 MLD. The city required water sources of at least 15 thousand million cubic feet. A sewage treatment plant of 54 MLD capacity would be established at Nesapakkam at the cost of Rs. 51 crore. The sewer infrastructure in different areas including Padmanabha Nagar, K.K. Nagar, Greams Road, Jawahar Nagar, Vyasarpadi, Aynavaram, Villivakkam, Thiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar and Seethammal Colony would be improved at the cost of Rs. 22 crore.