Desalination plants across the coastline in the works to fight water crisis

The government is drawing up a roadmap for setting up commercially viable desalination plants to make sea water usable across the country's coastline in line with its target of supplying clean piped water to every household by 2024.

The initial plan is to set up plants in the islands of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, a senior government official said, adding that it would be replicated across the entire 7,500 km of the country's coastline.

Research and development on the multi-stage flash vaporisation technology to upscale it and commercialise its usage is going on with the help of official think tank Niti Aayog.


"The Aayog will soon come up with a roadmap for the Jal Shakti ministry to help set up commercially viable desalination plants using the above technology," the official told ET.

The plants are expected to be set up in public-private partnership mode with the government providing technological and fiscal support.

As per the plan, which is under conceptualisation phase, floating desalination plants will be set up in marine waters within India's territory along the country's coastline.