May we have our desalination plants please?

Say MLAs to CM when they recently met him, because MMRDA and BMC have not kept their earlier promise of setting up desalination plants to cure the city's water woes

In a city where water shortage is a chronic and persistent problem, the city's leaders have taken up the cudgels on behalf of the citizens, to urge the authorities to make good their long pending promises to implement the city's first desalination plants. Public representatives from across the city want the state government to urgently consider the option of setting up a desalination plant, to put an end to the water woes faced by citizens.


Still a dream: The proposal of building two desalination plants in the
city was put on hold due to the inability to find ideal locations.
Representation pic

In a recent meeting, city MLAs requested the chief minister to consider their request. "We requested the chief minister to consider the desalination project as an option, in order to ensure that the city does not face a drinking water shortage during summer and monsoon. The desalination plant is a good option, and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, being a technology enthusiast himself, is well aware of the workings of desalination plants.

Responding to our urgings, he told us that the economic viability of providing drinking water at minimum cost to citizens would have to be studied. Also, the expenditure entailed in desalination has to be compared with the expenditure involved in other alternatives," said Krishna Hegde, MLA, Vile Parle.

He further said, "The chief minister was receptive to the idea, and is well versed with the possible benefits of the plant. Besides, he was also aware of similar plants being operated in places like Chennai, Lakshadweep and other foreign countries. We don't have too many options for obtaining safe drinking water, and the sea is a natural resource for Mumbaikars."

Bodies such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authorityu00a0 (MMRDA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had in 2009 announced plans for setting up desalination plants to cater to the city's growing need for potable water.

Erstwhile Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had also actively pursued the plan to set up the city's first desalination projects. Later on, the BMC had also announced that it would appoint scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) as consultants for the projects.

A steering committee was set up about six months ago to speed up the process to examine the feasibility and thereafter set up two 100 mld (million litres per day) desalination plants, one of which would be located in the island, the other being situated in the suburbs. The two plants were to be built by the BMC and the MMRDA respectively.

However, the proposal was thereafter put on hold, due to the committee's inability to find ideal locations for establishing the plants.Speaking to MiD DAY, an official of the Urban Development department said, "For setting up a plant, we require a 150-metre long straight coast. Besides, there needs to be adequate distance between the water outlet and inlets of the plant to ensure that the water near the inlet is not further contaminated by the highly saline water which is discharged by the plant through the outlet after processing. Also, the location cannot be a salt pan or a non-development zone," said.

He further added, "More importantly, the sea water near the inlet of the plant has to be relatively pure compared to the other sea water. However, in the city and suburbs, the seawater is highly polluted near the coast due to sewage water, and other factors. Therefore, it becomes all the more difficult to find an ideal location." It is now the turn of the MLAs to push for the pending plants.

Costly plans
The cost of the planned plant, as estimated by state officials, is around Rs 100 crore per 100 mld. "The cost of processing regular water is around Rs 6 to 8 per thousand litres, while the cost of processing water through a desalination plant would be five times that," said an official of the Urban Department.