NEW DELHI: The port city of Thoothukudi will soon boast of a desalination plant with a capacity of generating freshwater up to two million litres daily (MLD).
In addition to Tuticorin, desalination plants will be set up on the islands of Amini, Chetlet, Kadamath, Kalpeni, Kultan and Andrott, which are all part of Lakshadweep islands. These plants will go a long way in solving the water woes in these areas by converting sea water into potable water.
This information was revealed in response to an unstarred question asked by Prabha Thakur, a Rajya Sabha Congress MP from Rajasthan. Thakur had asked the details of plants set up by the government at various cities along the country’s coastline to solve water woes in those areas.
In his reply, Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences stated that such plans would be installed at a number of cities along the Indian coastline.
The National institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has indigenously designed, developed and demonstrated desalination technology for conversion of sea water into potable water based on low temperature thermal desalination (LTTD) technology. LTTD is a process under which the warm surface sea water is flash-evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep sea water. The technology is efficient and suitable for island territories of India. According to cost estimates made recently by an independent agency for LTTD technology, the operational costs per litre of desalinated water works to be 19 paise in the Lakshadweep islands.
Till date, four LTTD plants have been successfully commissioned in the country, one each at Kavaratti, Minicoy, Agatti, Lakshadweep and Chennai.