Andaman permitted to set up desalination plant: MoEF
Port Blair, Oct 15 (UNI) Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which face acute water scarcity every summer, has finally got clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest for setting up a desalination plant, Andaman Administration sources said today.
According to official sources, the plant would come up at Brookshabad village of South Andaman, situated close to Port Blair city and the sea-shore area.
The clearance has been given under the provisions of Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 1991, sources added.
The need for setting up the plant has been felt following inadequate distribution of treated water supply to the residents of the town.
The proposed desalination plant will have a capacity of generating 14 million litres of water per day which will ultimately help reduce the demand and supply gap of treated water in the Port Blair Municipal Council.
The Andaman and Nicobar Coastal Zone Management Authority had recommended the matter of setting up this plant to the Ministry in August.
However, experts feel that setting up of desalination plant is not the right solution to water scarcity in the Islands, which receive nearly seven months of rain.
''We
receive
3000
mm
of
rainfall
annually.
So
the
right
way
to
deal
with
water
crisis
is
largescale
rainwater
harvesting,''
Mr
Basudev
Dass,
Director,
Samaprasad
Institute
of
Social
Science,
in
Andaman,
told
UNI