Solution in the Offing for Ganjam's Water Woes

If things go as planned, Ganjam may soon be able to tide over its water crisis to a certain extent by using seawater.

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To begin with, work is underway to supply desalinated seawater to two seaside villages of Aryapalli and Matikhal.

In fact, the process to desalinate seawater is already being done at a seawater desalination plant on the premises of Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) in Chatrapur, an unit of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a Public Sector Undertaking under Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). While the water generated is being consumed by OSCOM for its industrial use, it has now decided to provide the desalinated seawater to the above-mentioned two villages located in its vicinity to address their water scarcity.

The DAE had set up a 4.5 MLD seawater desalination plant on OSCOM premises, adjacent to Gopalpur, through MoU mode between Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indian Rare Earths Limited. Set up at the cost of ₹130 crore, this was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March last year. Ganjam was considered for the plant since it is located on the coastline of Bay of Bengal (only 750 meters away from shore line) and a drought-prone zone facing acute water shortage. It uses state-of-the-art indigenous technology provided by BARC for processing seawater.