STR New / Reuters
Did you ever expect ocean water to end up in your drinking glass?
An Indian company is opening up a desalination plant which begins operations on Saturday in Chennai, India. The plant will purify and remove minerals from 237 million liters of sea water a day to convert to drinking water.
Not only is the water competitively priced at $1 for every 1000 liters, it is environmentally friendly.
“We are using the advanced reverse osmosis technology. We are purifying the water by filtering it under high pressure. Unlike other desalination plants we are not boiling the water and as a result we are saving a lot of energy,” Natarajan Ganesan, Joint General Manager of the Chennai Water Desalination company told the BBC.
The plant will produce 100 million liters of drinking water a day, and is the biggest plant of its kind in South Asia. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has already committed to buying the purified water for the next 25 years.
Chennai, largely dependant on monsoon rains, has suffered from water droughts and shortages for years. If this plant is a success it might mean cleaner water for other coastal cities and help India in its war over clean water. (via BBC)