BENGALURU: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a desalination plant in Mangaluru and dedicated it to the nation on Friday, water experts and environmentalists questioned the need to spend Rs 677 crore on the project that will desalinate only 30 million litres of water per day.
For the entire year, the plant will desalinate only 1 tmcft of water, while 2,000 tmcft of fresh water from the Sharavati river flows into the sea. Also, 44 other rivers pass through Dakshina Kannada district, discharging humongous amounts of water into the sea. When the district has such an abundance of water, what is the necessity of this plant, they asked.
Well-known environmentalist and head of Environment Support Group, Leo Saldanha, said, “To promote a desalination plant in Dakshina Kannada, one of the most rained and water-rich regions of the world, is clearly a preposterous idea and wreaks every bit of a corrupt idea in practice. In all, 44 rivers flow down the windward slopes of Western Ghats and reach the sea making extraordinarily productive estuaries."
"There is more than sufficient water for sensible rural and urban development in the region if the forests in the ghats are protected, and farms and wetlands are not destroyed. But there can never be enough if one proposes to turn Mangaluru into another Mumbai. It will simply be unsustainable and will destroy the entire region," he added.
He said, “The desalination plant presupposes sea water is abundant and there are no adverse impacts. The brine will result in a saline shock that will ruin marine ecosystems. Besides, the plant demands enormous electricity and is expensive. Does India have such revenue streams?’’
A senior official of the water resources department said, “It is true that areas along the West Coast have abundant water resources. But there is also a flip side as most urban areas here are hit by water scarcity. This is because of the lack of dams and storage facilities. Even the Yettinahole reservoir along the Netravathi River has relatively small storage. To ensure that urban areas are not hit by scarcity they are considering desalination. There could be more desalination plants to alleviate water problems.’’
Congress called the project a waste of precious resources. Opposition leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah said, “It is wholly unnecessary to spend such large sums of money on desalination in a district which possesses such high amounts of freshwater resources.’’
Opposition leader in the Council BK Hariprasad, who hails from Dakshina Kannada, said, “As millions of litres of the freshwater flow down Dakshina Kannada into the Arabian Sea every day, they are trying to desalinate a mere 30 million litres of salt water. It is hundred times easier to build small storage facilities and save small amounts of freshwater flowing into the sea. This is definitely not to cater to people’s needs.’’JDS senior leader HD Kumaraswamy said, “It is just a white elephant. It will not benefit the common man.”
Former Science and Technology Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, during whose period the department conducted desalination research and concluded that desalination was possible for about 30 paise per litre, said, “Desalination plants in coastal areas cannot be a permanent solution to the problem of water shortage. This can only be an interim solution until you find a real solution.’’
MODI’S TIP TO BJP LEADERS: PUBLICISE GOVT PROGRAMMES
Mangaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the State BJP Core Committee meeting, asked the members to give wide publicity to government programmes, and ensure that every household knows about the government’s achievements.
After addressing the public gathering at the Gold Finch City ground, Modi held an informal meeting with members of the state BJP Core Committee at Mangaluru helipad, before taking the chopper to the Mangaluru International Airport. State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel introduced the members to the PM, who took stock of the implementation of central and state programmes.