BERHAMPUR: Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday unveiled the sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) project in Chatrapur.
The SWRO unit, established at the desalination plant on the premises of Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL) at Matikhal, will purify seawater and supply drinking water to nearby villages.
“Despite being a coastal district, Ganjam faced crisis of clean drinking water due to high salinity in groundwater and limited freshwater resources. This project is an important milestone towards water conservation in the area. It will provide a reliable source of drinking water to the people,” he said and thanked IREL for working towards building a healthy society and sustainable development.
He said IREL is an important public sector undertaking in the strategic sector of the country which has, for the last 40 to 45 years, been working for rare earth’s development. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) spent `160 crore to develop a technology to purify seawater and provide clean drinking water to people. One such plant has been set up here with indigenous technology,” Pradhan said.
Just as Israel is purifying sea water and putting it to use on a large scale, here too, in the first phase, drinking water will be provided to people of Matikhal and Aryapalli areas by spending only 11 paisa per litre, he added. “This is probably the first in the state to convert sea water into fresh water and provide it to the people,” said Pradhan.
MPs Anita Subhadarshini and Pradeep Panigrahy were present during the inauguration.