The Andhra Pradesh government plans to set up desalination plants along coastal districts in collaboration with Israeli company IDE Technologies to overcome the drinking water shortage in the state.
After a meeting with IDE Technoligies Deputy CEO Lizi Torenstine and other officials here on Wednesday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said efforts to set up desalination plants was to ensure that not a single drop of water goes waste.
Jagan pointed out that Israel is totally dependent on water through desalination.
The Chief Minister outlined the need for utilising only desalinated water for industrial purpose and there should be provision to upgrade the plant for drinking water as well.
He asked the Israeli company officials to make a study of where the desalination plants could be set up, starting with Visakhapatnam and later covering the other coastal areas.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Vizag Steel Plant should be using desalinated water and an action plan should be prepared to ensure that all thermal plants use desalinated water.
He emphasised the need to estimate the cost of the technology that is in vogue in the purification of polluted water.
The Israeli company officials were all praise for the Chief Minister for making efforts to solve drinking water shortage in the state and said Israel started a commercial desalination pant in 1964 and that the services of IDE Technologies were being utilised by 40 countries across the world.
The company has been working in India for the past 25 years and providing services to corporates like Essar and Reliance.