SEA Water Will Be Desalinized at Several Ports For Drinking Water & Other Purposes, Says Nitin Gadkari

PARADIP, Ennore, Tuticorin and other Ports have been tasked to pioneer recycle and desalinize sea water for meeting potable water needs of the ports and neighbouring community. This information was made public by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He recently chaired a meeting of chairmen of ports to discuss desalination technologies and their application at major ports. He has   directed them to ensure desalination plants are installed with immediate effect. The initiative would benefit areas near the ports like Thoothukudi near Tuticorin, where a 13 million litre per day plant will be able to serve 20% of Tuticorin city’s requirement after port utilization. It will also help serve the water need of the entire Chennai Port and 1% of the city’s requirement at lower costs. This initiative is in line with the Ministry’s agenda to promote water conservation and reuse of water. During the meeting, the idea was mooted  for use of new technology based containerized RO (Reverse Osmosis) based plants which can reduce the cost of producing desalinated water and would be cheaper than current water procurement cost at certain ports.  Gadkari directed all ports to install desalination plants immediately. Desalination of sea water will be done in the port premises, Gadkari said. Chennai Port and 1% of the city’s requirement at lower costs. This initiative is in line with the Ministry’s agenda to promote water conservation and reuse of water. Speaking at the meet Nitin Gadkari said that the desalination plant at ports should be used for meeting the potable water needs of ports as well as the neighbouring community. Efforts should be made to extract methane, carbon dioxide and bio-CNG from water. He has also directed port chairmen to explore feasibility about using treated sewage water for cleaning rail coaches at different railway stations, and nearby power plants. The issue of power cost contribution to overall desalination cost was analyzed. Nitin Gadkari has suggested that  cheaper power sourcing options like renewable energy through windmills and solar farms should be explored to  bring down the cost of producing desalinated water by about 20%.Desalination benefit may vary from port to port depending on municipal water purchase price and energy tariffs, he added .Incidentally during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Israel, his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu showcased how the Zionist nation had made tremendous progress in utilising sea water.PM Modi was impressed by the technology and publicly bated for using it in the coastal areas.