ONGOLE: A desalination plant with an outlay of Rs 35 crore will come up soon to address the drinking water needs of 14 fishermen villages in the Ongole assembly constituency of Prakasam district. This will be the first such plant in the state. The authorities have already sent a detailed project report (DPR) to the government and are waiting for approval.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his recent visit to Ongole, had promised to sanction a comprehensive project with an estimate of around Rs 400 crore to supply drinking water to the city and other surrounding areas.
Now, higher authorities of the Rural Water Supply (RWS) wing have asked the district authorities to submit relevant proposals for the establishment of the desalination plant. Accordingly, proposals have been made for a super desalination RO (reverse osmosis) water purifier plant with a capacity of six million litres per day (MLD). The project will provide purified drinking water to a total of 34 habitations with a population of 50,000 people under 14 coastline villages in the Kothapatnam mandal of Ongole segment with an estimated cost of Rs 35 crore.
Elaborating on the details of the project and its functioning, assistant executive engineer (AEE) at RWS in Kothapatnam, M Rama Devi, told TNIE, “The super RO plant roughly needs three acres and we have already proposed the Gavandlapalem site which was previously proposed for the unexecuted Gundlakamma Grid Project. The site already has an Over Head Balancing Reservoir (OHBR) facility. The purified water will be distributed from the OBHR to the other Over Head Service Reservoirs (OHSRs) easily through gravitational force.”
For a few years now, the coastline areas along with the western parts of the Prakasam district are facing a deficit rainfall. This has led to drinking water scarcity in those localities. The coastline habitations are facing serious potable water scarcity as the groundwater has become saltier due to fewer rains. People are dependent on government supplies. In such circumstances, the district authorities have proposed to make the first of its kind desalination plant project to cater to the drinking water needs of the coastline habitations.
The proposed project may be taken up under the Central Government’s Jal Jeevan Mission with 50 per cent funding from the Union government and the remaining 50 per cent by the state government. In the estimated Rs 35 crore, Rs 30 crore will be used for the establishment of the RO plant while the remaining Rs 5 crore will be used for the construction of OHBR etc.
“Now, we are waiting for the finance department to approve the project. Once it gets the nod, we will kick-start construction of the first-ever desalination project in the state. Whether the purified water will be supplied free of cost or at a nominal charge will be decided later,” Shaik Mardan Ali, SE at RWS said.