BMC receives CRZ clearance for Manori desalination plant

Mumbai: The BMC has received a Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance for the 400 MLD SWRO desalination plant at village Manori from the expert appraisal committee CRZ of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC). With the CRZ clearance, the BMC has cleared a major hurdle of implementing the project.Meanwhile, as per the conditions imposed, the project proponent has been asked to identify capable research institutes/universities/colleges at the state and national level, which shall prepare a long-term research action plan, for assessment of the impact of brine on marine ecology, flora and fauna. Besides, for developing advanced desalination techniques, reuse of brine, and research on designing incentive structures to conserve natural resources and mitigate waste for reducing pollution load in marine ecosystems/coastal areas for sustainable development, and submit it to the project proponent. The proponent has also been asked to initially earmark Rs 10 crore for the research projects. Among the conditions imposed in the clearance include a ban on activities in the Manori Creek, which is predominantly the fishing area of the local fishermen.As this is the first specialised project for large scale production of water through desalination in Mumbai and Maharashtra, the committee was of the view that the success of this project will offer an alternative source of drinking water for the large city of Mumbai and may lead to setting up of more such desalination plants in future which will ultimately lead to discharge of huge volumes of the brine in the sea water. Therefore, there is a need to find out ways to improve the quality of brine and to re-use it so that the impact of discharged brine on marine life and ecology can be minimised and desalination methods can be established as environmentally sound, economically feasible and sustainable sources of drinking water supply. The committee also advised the proponent to take all necessary precautions during operation to ensure that tidal flow and nearby mangrove ecosystems are not affected. According to the proponent, both the intake and outfall pipelines will be installed using a tunnelling method, minimizing disturbance to the seabed to reduce the environmental impact. Options would be explored for reducing the energy usage and carbon footprint by increasing the usage of renewable energy by minimum 10% and installation of energy recovery systems/devices. The BMC had awarded the contract for implementation of the project to GVPR Engineers in Dec and initially, in phase 1, the BMC will be setting up a 200 MLD plant. Earlier this month, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) had forwarded its recommendation to the EAC.