The Hindu Business Line : Industries in Manali may opt for desalination plants

However, they will have to maintain their present offtake from Metrowater, and set up captive facility for their additional requirements alone, sources said.

Some of the units such as the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, which is expanding operations, and the Tamil Nadu Petroproducts Ltd are considering large desalination plants. Some such as Parry & Co and ICI have opted for small desalination plants, according to representatives of the Manali Industrial Association.

While the supplies by Metrowater are adequate for now the situation is bound to deteriorate in May and June, they say. The primary source of water is from the well fields in Panjetty but the water level in the aquifer is dropping. So only about 50 per cent of the requirement is through the pipelines, and the balance is met by tanker lorry supplies.

Industries in Manali require about 40 million litres a day; of this the Chennai Petroleum Corporation and the Madras Fertilizers alone need about 13 million litres.

Though desalination is an expensive option, continuous process industries such as refineries and fertiliser plants cannot afford to do without water. These are needed in the cooling towers and for steam to generate heat. Therefore, they need to go for assured supply of water.

The cost of piped supply is about Rs 60 for 1000 litres of water and by tankers it costs Rs 85-90. Depending on the technology used the variable cost of water from desalination plant works out to about Rs 60.

According to officials handling the desalination project for Tamil Nadu Petroproducts Ltd, the company is considering a million gallon per day facility. Awaiting the Government's approval for the project, they hope that it can be set up in time to supplement their requirement by June when the situation is expected to worsen.

According to sources, the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd is considering setting up a desalination plant with a capacity of 5.8 million gallons a day at a cost of Rs 200 crore.

In the light of Government's stance on permitting desalination plants, the Manali Industrial Association is looking at setting up a desalination plant as a common facility for the industrial use.

On an earlier occasion the association members had said that they were considering a 60 million litre a day facility.