Even sea water, which is in abundance around the city, may not be able help overcome the crisis. Most of the civic engineers are not betting on the realisation of sea water desalination plants.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan had announced plans to set the desalination plants rolling within six months during the winter session. The hydraulic engineers, however, have played down the optimism. “The sea water near the coastline has previously been reported to be extremely polluted. Anyone setting up a plant will have to go at least 1km deep to tap water,” said an engineer.
He added that availability of space to set up a plant was another constraint. “A plant having a capacity to treat 10 million litres of sea water daily (recommended by the BMC) will require five acres of land.” Permissions from the ministry of environment and forests for the plants along the coastline will be another hurdle.
Keen to consult Barc engineers for their projects, a civic team is likely to visit a desalination facility inside the centre’s premises on December 30.
