India, in many ways is reeling under an acute shortage of water.The main reason cited,which was highlighted during the class, was the need for more efficient use of the available resources through the construction of appropriate infrastructure.
South India is blessed with the presence of numerous rivers but the situation in a state such as Tamilnadu has reached new levels of desperation.Chennai meets a significant portion of its demand from its Desalination Plant located at Minjur,35km north from the city,which has been in operation since 2009.The success of the project has raised many eyebrows and a second Desalination plant at the cost of 1000 Crore is to come up at Nemmeli in a couple of years.The move towards Desalination has been rather nonchalant since the first plant had come up.
Chennai city draws about 600 million litres of water per day from lakes and reservoirs surrounding the city.The present Desalination Plant provides 100 million litres of water per day,making it a very vital component of the water supply chain.However,there have been no initiatives towards replenishment of existing sources or even to repair the losses that occur due to leaks. The need for a new plant can be avoided by stemming up measures in this front.
Water from a Desalination Plant is naturally more expensive and at present,it is priced at Rs 49 per kiloliter,which is nearly four times the normal price of getting water from lakes and reservoirs.Moreover,the 600 Crore Plant at Minjur is based on a DEBOOT (design-build own-operate-transfer) plan,due to which price fluctuations can occur after the firstyear of operation.The Government saw this in positive light as after the first year of operation, elections are due and there is no sense of incumbency among the people when their water demands have been met at a relatively lower price.This issue has escalated to the extent of M.K Stalin,one of the forerunners for the CM position, promising 100 Desalination Plants along the entire south-east coast if his party is re-elected.
Another neglected viewpoint is the environmental damage that a Desalination Plant could cause.There is a need to dispose the highly salty water that is creates by the process of reverse-osmosis.This is normally taken to a distant part in the ocean and dumped.But since its density is much higher than the surrounding sea-water,it settles at the bottom of the ocean floor without mixing with the surrounding water.The high concentrated salt content on the ocean floor is harmful to any source of life and a long term problem in this regards can easily be cited as well.The proposal of 100 Desalination Plants would go miles in fuelling the long term problems mentioned.
Going for Desalination becomes a prerequisite only in the Gulf Countries where,there is no
water source on land.Moreover,Mumbai has four times the population of Chennai and it still has a much better water supply network.The Government needs to recoup all its resources towards the re-engineering of its existing resources to maximize throughput which entails minimal investment as well.The only positive is that the opposing party has not come out with a bigger number of Desalination Plants as an election promise!
South India is blessed with the presence of numerous rivers but the situation in a state such as Tamilnadu has reached new levels of desperation.Chennai meets a significant portion of its demand from its Desalination Plant located at Minjur,35km north from the city,which has been in operation since 2009.The success of the project has raised many eyebrows and a second Desalination plant at the cost of 1000 Crore is to come up at Nemmeli in a couple of years.The move towards Desalination has been rather nonchalant since the first plant had come up.
Chennai city draws about 600 million litres of water per day from lakes and reservoirs surrounding the city.The present Desalination Plant provides 100 million litres of water per day,making it a very vital component of the water supply chain.However,there have been no initiatives towards replenishment of existing sources or even to repair the losses that occur due to leaks. The need for a new plant can be avoided by stemming up measures in this front.
Water from a Desalination Plant is naturally more expensive and at present,it is priced at Rs 49 per kiloliter,which is nearly four times the normal price of getting water from lakes and reservoirs.Moreover,the 600 Crore Plant at Minjur is based on a DEBOOT (design-build own-operate-transfer) plan,due to which price fluctuations can occur after the firstyear of operation.The Government saw this in positive light as after the first year of operation, elections are due and there is no sense of incumbency among the people when their water demands have been met at a relatively lower price.This issue has escalated to the extent of M.K Stalin,one of the forerunners for the CM position, promising 100 Desalination Plants along the entire south-east coast if his party is re-elected.
Another neglected viewpoint is the environmental damage that a Desalination Plant could cause.There is a need to dispose the highly salty water that is creates by the process of reverse-osmosis.This is normally taken to a distant part in the ocean and dumped.But since its density is much higher than the surrounding sea-water,it settles at the bottom of the ocean floor without mixing with the surrounding water.The high concentrated salt content on the ocean floor is harmful to any source of life and a long term problem in this regards can easily be cited as well.The proposal of 100 Desalination Plants would go miles in fuelling the long term problems mentioned.
Going for Desalination becomes a prerequisite only in the Gulf Countries where,there is no
water source on land.Moreover,Mumbai has four times the population of Chennai and it still has a much better water supply network.The Government needs to recoup all its resources towards the re-engineering of its existing resources to maximize throughput which entails minimal investment as well.The only positive is that the opposing party has not come out with a bigger number of Desalination Plants as an election promise!
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