For the first time in the country, the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) commissioned the desalination plant at Dahej, supplying water to industries. The plant was officially inaugurated on June 17, but the government had put the plant under trial stage for a week’s time.
This is the first desalination plant of 100 MLD set up by any government in the country.
Dahej, a hub of major industries, is rapidly expanding with new industrial units. Currently, the daily requirement of water for the industries in Dahej is around 200 MLD, which is at present fetched from the Narmada river. The industries will now get treated sea water for their use.
“From this plant, 100 MLD water will be delivered daily to the industries in the area. The price of 1,000 litres of treated water will be ₹26,” said M. Thennarasan, MD of GIDC.
He added that the corporation has invested ₹881 crore for setting up the plant and its infrastructure.
Typical desalination plant handles only salinity (TDS-Total Dissolved Salts) as they draw water from open sea. This plant draws mix of river-sea water and has to handle the varying tide levels. The plant is located at the confluence of Narmada river Estuary at Rahiyad village in Dahej.
Prior to setting up a desalination plant, GIDC was supplying water to industries through Narmada Canal which was roughly costing around ₹48.50/KL but treated water from desalination plant will now be given at ₹26/ KL.
So far, as many as 22 industrial units have booked 67 MLD capacity while 10 MLD has been reserved for GIDC itself.
Dahej houses India’s only functional petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment regions (PCPIR) is spread over 453 square kilometres and the region is growing rapidly with new industrial units being set up.
Normally, Dahej faces water shortage due to the limited availability of water and salinity, from January to June which affects industries and production.
The desalination plant has been set up as an alternative source of water for industries to meet demand of the existing and upcoming units in the region.
