India needs to promote desalination to bridge the growing gap between water demand and available supply, according to industry officials participating in the two-day Desalination India Congress, which concluded in New Delhi on September 27.
The federal government will have to step in to meet the huge capital costs required to make desalination plants financially viable, and the cost of desalinated water will have to be brought down to make it an affordable option for municipalities throughout the country, they added.
In his keynote address, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (Chennai Metrowater) Managing Director Dr. B. Chandra Mohan gave an overview of the water crisis in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state.
Chennai Metrowater has been managing shortages by transporting surface water from distant sources through tankers and trains and purchasing groundwater from agricultural wells, but the city is now turning to desalination as an alternate source, Chandra Mohan said.
The city has already commissioned two 100-million-liter-per-day plants, and several others are planned both for Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu.
Chandra Mohan said that in order to expand desalination, India will need long-term operation and maintenance contracts.
“Incentives should also be provided for manufacturing reverse osmosis plant products such as membranes and pumps within the country, resulting in optimization of cost,” he said.
Rajiv Mittal, managing director of international water treatment firm VA Tech Wabag, said the desalination market in India is expected to grow due to population increases, water shortages, restrictions on industrial groundwater use, expanding government and political support and reduced plant prices.
“India should tap this alternative water source by exploiting its long coastline. Long-term investment in research and development has the potential to achieve cost reduction of desalinated water by 80 percent in the next 20 years,” Mittal said.
IL&FS Water Ltd (IWL) Managing Director Sameer Vyas said that in the years ahead, demand side pressures and limitations on allocation of surface water will create a need for more desalination plants, particularly for industries, in India.
“The present desalination capacity is only 500 million liters per day, compared to 66 billion liters per day total in the world, and the Indian market is at present worth [$621.6 million USD]. The industry is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent in the next three to four years,” Vyas said.
