Punjab aims to provide safe drinking water with groundwater desalination project

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Saturday announced a pilot project for desalination of groundwater at a cost of Rs 25 crores to ensure clean potable water to the residents of southern Punjab villages. The water for desalination would be taken from around 100 waterlogged villages of Fazilka and Abohar areas of southern Punjab. This announcement was made by the chief minister on the concluding day of his pre-budget deliberations and involved discussions with the MLAs of Malwa region, as per an official release.

Amarinder Singh said this project will have a desalination capacity of five million litres per day to provide safe drinking water to the inhabitants of these areas, where the groundwater quality was extremely poor due to a high level of salinity.

At present, the drinking water is supplied to the inhabitants of this region through canal water, the supply of which is inadequate to cater to the growing requirement of water consumption, especially for drinking. The desalination project was the need of the hour in Fazilka district as the water quality in around 100 villages was not up to the mark and posed a severe health hazard. Moreover, the treated water after desalination could be safely used for drinking purposes, he added.

The approximate cost for treatment of one million litres water per day is around Rs 5 crores. However, a large plant covering a sizeable population would be far more economically viable. The chief minister further said that after reviewing the success of this pilot project in Malwa belt, the state government would go for installing other such plants in different parts of the state to ensure clean potable water.

He also asked the Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation to prepare a blueprint for effective implementation of the project in a time-bound manner so as to provide a much-needed reprieve to the people of southern Punjab.

(With inputs from agencies.)