Retired engineers have come up with a sustainable alternative for desalination plants.
What’s it about? The Tamil Nadu Public Works Department (PWD) Seniors Engineers’ Association has an alternative plan to increase the storage capacity of existing tanks. It could be cost-effective for setting up desalination plants. The Association, a group of retired engineers, has chosen 507 tanks in 322 villages.
- Desilting and improving the capacity of the tanks will help conserve floodwater draining into the sea. Additional storage can be created by deepening reservoirs like Red Hills by one metre.
- Enhanced storage will replenish the water table in surrounding areas. The entire plan could be implemented for ₹1,000 crore.
Who said what? A former chief engineer of the Association, A Veerappan, said this method would be cheaper than building new facilities like the ₹5,000 crore desalination plant in Porur along ECR. K Nagarajan, a former special chief engineer, said the production cost of desalinated water would be 10 paise per litre, while the cost of treating surface water would be 1 paise.
(Image credits: Rehman Abubakr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
