Lok Sabha Question No. 163 (STARRED), answered on 2016-05-05
Subject: Desalination Plants
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: RAJAN BABURAO  VICHARE, HARISHCHANDRA DEORAM CHAVAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.163 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.05.2016

## Desalination Plants

†*163. SHRI RAJAN VICHARE: SHRI HARISHCHANDRA CHAVAN:

Will the Minister of DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken note of acute scarcity of drinking water in various parts  of  the  country  and  especially  in  the  drought  affected  districts,  if  so,  the  details thereof; (b) whether desalination plants have been put in various places to treat sea water, if so, the quantum of  water  made  potable  during  the  last  three  years  along  with  the  expenditure incurred thereon State/UT wise; (c) whether the Government has taken any step to reduce the production cost of converting sea water into potable water, and if so, the details thereof; (d) whether the Union Government proposes to set up more number of desalination plants in the country including Maharashtra; and (e) if so, the details thereof including capacity of each of the plants, State/ UT-wise ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (SHRI BIRENDER SINGH)

- (a) to (e)   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## Statement referred to in the reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.163 for reply on 05.05.2016

(a) Yes Madam. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India has taken note of acute scarcity of drinking water in 306 districts spread across   13 States, particularly  in  11  drought  affected  States.    The  detailed  measures  of  providing  safe drinking water in these drought affected States as on 04/5/2016 is at Annexure-I.

In  addition  to  this,  advisory  from  the  Government  of  India  to  all  affected  States  has been  issued  to  take  up  proper  water  conservation  measures  before  the  onset  of monsoon so that rainwater is harvested both in surface water bodies and also help in recharging groundwater aquifers.

(b) Sea water based desalination plants set up in the country as reported by the Coastal States/ UTs of the country along with the water produced from them and expenditure incurred during the last 3 years is at Annexure-II.

(c) Desalination plants, in general, use Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology.   The Operation &  Maintenance  cost  of  these  Plants  can  be  optimized/  regulated  only  through conducting regular water and energy audit and taking up proper repair and maintenance periodically.

(d) & (e) :  Since drinking  water is a State subject, the proposals initiated by the States/ Union Territories for setting up of desalination plants are examined in Government of India  and  decisions    taken  based  on  merit  subject  to  availability  of  resources.    No proposal for setting up of desalination plants has been received by this Ministry from Government of  Maharashtra.

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## Annexure-I referred to in reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 163 due for reply on 05.05.2016

## Measures taken by the State to mitigate rural drinking water scarcity situation (cumulative till date) in prevailing drought situation as on 04/05/2016

| S. No.   | State          |   Number of districts affected |   Number of Villages affected |   Number of Habitation s affected |   Number of Handpumps repaired/Resto red including Hydrofracturi ng, flushing etc. |   Number of Pvt. Borwells hired |   Riser pipes used in running meters (Increased/Rep lenished) in Handpumps |   Number of New borewells commi- ssioned |   Number of Temporary PWS from water bodies |   Number of Tankers Trips used |   Number of Habitations covered by the tankers |
|----------|----------------|--------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh |                             10 |                           881 |                               955 |                                                                              23354 |                             129 |                                                                      32235 |                                      599 |                                           0 |                           4351 |                                            844 |
| 2        | Bihar          |                             19 |                           160 |                               350 |                                                                              17699 |                               5 |                                                                       3378 |                                    22297 |                                           0 |                            519 |                                             43 |
| 3        | Chhattisgarh   |                             25 |                         16134 |                             60332 |                                                                             140792 |                               3 |                                                                     184323 |                                     5353 |                                           0 |                              2 |                                              1 |
| 4        | Gujarat        |                              8 |                             0 |                               835 |                                                                             105846 |                              22 |                                                                      78162 |                                     6632 |                                           7 |                          64950 |                                            584 |
| 5        | Haryana        |                              7 |                            42 |                                47 |                                                                                 10 |                              11 |                                                                          0 |                                        7 |                                           0 |                             88 |                                             41 |
| 6        | Jharkhand      |                             24 |                         29577 |                            119667 |                                                                              81486 |                               0 |                                                                     469920 |                                     3325 |                                           0 |                            543 |                                             19 |
| 7        | Karnataka      |                             27 |                          7567 |                             15012 |                                                                               1216 |                              45 |                                                                          0 |                                     5037 |                                           0 |                           3818 |                                           1109 |
| 8        | Madhya Pradesh |                             46 |                         47402 |                            112810 |                                                                             224229 |                             180 |                                                                     345530 |                                     4740 |                                           0 |                              0 |                                             98 |
| 9        | Maharashtra    |                             33 |                         18627 |                             20004 |                                                                              15042 |                            7104 |                                                                      35485 |                                     2048 |                                         189 |                          14300 |                                           9221 |
| 10       | Odisha         |                             27 |                         29077 |                             96826 |                                                                              59370 |                               1 |                                                                      64270 |                                     1481 |                                           2 |                           2407 |                                           2243 |
| 11       | Rajasthan      |                             21 |                           620 |                               872 |                                                                              18340 |                               0 |                                                                      27753 |                                      148 |                                           0 |                          36984 |                                            872 |
| 12       | Telangana      |                              9 |                          7228 |                             14850 |                                                                              15707 |                            6549 |                                                                      36134 |                                     2068 |                                        1215 |                          10755 |                                           3870 |
| 13       | Uttar Pradesh  |                             50 |                             0 |                                 0 |                                                                             168718 |                               0 |                                                                          0 |                                       58 |                                           0 |                             96 |                                             90 |
| Total    | Total          |                            306 |                        157315 |                            442560 |                                                                             871809 |                           14049 |                                                                    1277190 |                                    53793 |                                        1413 |                         138813 |                                          19035 |

* In Haryana and Bihar States, drought has not been declared by the State Government, but, water scarcity problem has been reported.

## Annexure-II referred to in reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 163 due for reply on 05.05.2016

Quantity of potable water produced from Sea water based Desalination Plants, State/UT-wise along with Expenditure incurred during the last three years

## 1) Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board - exclusively for Chennai city augmentation

| i) Details of Existing Plants in Chennai                                                                  | 100 MLD Sea Water RO Desalination Plant at Minjur.        | 100 MLD Sea Water RO Desalination Plant at Nemmeli.   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| ii) Commercial Operation Date (CoD)                                                                       | 25.07.2010                                                | 08.01.2014                                            |
| a) total quantum of portable water made from sea water during the last three years in Million Litres (ML) | 2013- 34302 ML 2014- 33711 ML 2015- 32524 ML              | 2013 - ------- 2014 - 30132 ML 2015 - 26280 ML        |
| b) the expenditure incurred thereon                                                                       | 2013- Rs.178.83 Cr 2014- Rs.166.48 Cr. 2015- Rs.178.69 Cr | 2013- ----- 2014- Rs. 78.75 Cr 2015- Rs. 86.15 Cr     |

## 2) Union Territory of Lakshadweep islands

Three low temperature thermal desalination plants (LTTD) are existing one each in Kavaratti, Agatti and Minicoy islands. The plant capacity to produce treated water is 1.0 lakh litres per day. Treated water produced and expenditure incurred during the last three years in these islands is tabulated below :

| Sl. No.   | Location of LTTD Plant   |   Water produced in Million litres |   Water produced in Million litres |   Water produced in Million litres |
|-----------|--------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | Location of LTTD Plant   |                             2013   |                             2014   |                               2015 |
| 1.        | Kavaratti                |                               27.5 |                               30.2 |                                 27 |
| 2.        | Agatti                   |                               19   |                               21.5 |                                 24 |
| 3.        | Minicoy                  |                               22.5 |                               21.5 |                                 22 |

| Sl. No.   | Location of LTTD Plant   |   Expenditure incurred in Rs Lakh |   Expenditure incurred in Rs Lakh |   Expenditure incurred in Rs Lakh |
|-----------|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | Location of LTTD Plant   |                              2013 |                              2014 |                              2015 |
| 1.        | Kavaratti                |                                83 |                                31 |                                61 |
| 2.        | Agatti                   |                                26 |                                29 |                                53 |
| 3.        | Minicoy                  |                                21 |                                20 |                                26 |

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