To address the acute problem of potable water in the state and its neighbors, tamil nadu has developed India’s first floating desalination plant. It is also the first of its kind in the world. The plant located off the Chennai coastline has a capacity of generating one million litres per day. It will prepare fresh water from ocean water provide much better potable water to any state along the coastline.

The plant is the brainchild of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). NIOT embarked on the idea after encouraging results of the indigenously designed land-based plant at Kavaratti in Lakshadweep that generates nearly 100,000 litres of fresh water from ocean water. The total dissolvable solid proportion in this water is only 10 particles per million (PPM) as against a national standard of 2,000 PPM which makes this water better than the one available now.

The plant is built up on a 65-metre-long by 16-metre-thick barge. The ocean water is boiled inside a vacuum container.

The vapour that comes out is condensed through a refrigeration process with the help of deep-sea water which is three times cooler than surface water, collected 600 metres below the sea. Once the pipe reaches 600 metres, it can easily bring water from the bottom.
This process prepares fresh water.

Kathiroli, the Director of NIOT, mentioned the difficulty behind withdrawal of cold water from the ocean. It requires joining of several 12 metre HDPE pipes until they reach a length of 600 metres.

Minister for science and technology Kapil Sibal applauding the gigantic effort said,

The floating plant can serve any mainland area where deep sea water is available 30 km-40 km off the shore. The total cost of the plant was about Rs.220 million. At present it’s costing us just six paise to produce one litre of water. The plant would start its regular operations in early 2008.

Fresh water being lighter than saline water is easily carried in boats to its destination.

Water is a scarce resource and it has to be made effective use of. It is very essential to keep it clean and potable, because once lost it will not be found again.

via: INDIAS NEWS