THE BRIHANMUMBAI Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious desalination plant project, which is expected to resolve Mumbai's water crisis is set to be operated entirely on renewable energy. A desalination plant is an industrial facility that extracts the saline and mineral components of sea-water to make it suitable for human consumption and irrigation. The idea of setting up a desalination plant was floated in 2020, during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. In February 2022, the civic body had appointed a consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and carrying out a feasibility study for this plant. This report was submitted to BMC in November 2022. Civic officials said the BMC would run this plant entirely on solar energy. Municipal Commissioner and state-appointed Administrator, Iqbal Singh Chahal, during his budget speech, stated that a global tender for this project will be floated this year to attract international players. “We have now decided to operate this plant entirely on clean and solar energy, since electricity costs would vary at Rs 4–5 per unit, and cost of solar electricity is around Rs 1.5–2 which would save a lot of public money,” said P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (projects). In FY24 budget, BMC has earmarked a Rs 200-crore fund for this project. The overall cost for constructing this plant has been pegged at Rs 1,600 crore, while an additional Rs 1,900 crore has been earmarked for annual operations and maintenance for 20 years. The desalination plant will have a capacity to treat 200 million litres daily (MLD) and civic officials mentioned that a provision of augmenting the capacity to 400 MLD has also been kept considering future demand. The BMC last year earmarked a 12 hectares land at Manori village, a seaside hamlet in the northernmost end of suburban Mumbai, to set up this plant. Civic officials said the cost of water produced at this plant would be 4 to 5 paisa per litre. Currently, Mumbai gets its water from seven different lakes across the suburban belt and neighbouring districts. Mumbai has a demand for 4,400 MLD of water, but the civic body is only able to supply around 3,800 MLD.
