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Sep 12, 2013 / in Blog Articles

When it comes to water supply  in India there’s no shortage due to the annual monsoon…right? Wrong! Despite the copious rainfall in some areas there is less in others. Check out the picture alongside which shows scores of Indians clamouring for water. According to Water.org “India’s huge and growing population is putting a severe strain on all of the country’s natural resources. Most water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural runoff. India has made progress in the supply of safe water to its people, but gross disparity in coverage exists across the country. Although access to drinking water has improved, the World Bank estimates that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water. In India, diarrhea alone causes more than 1,600 deaths daily (that is 600 000 annually)—the same as if eight 200-person jumbo-jets crashed to the ground each day. Hygiene practices also continue to be a problem in India. Latrine usage is extremely poor in rural areas of the country; only 14% of the rural population has access to a latrine. Hand washing is also very low, increasing the spread of disease. In order to decrease the amount of disease spread through drinking-water, latrine usage and hygiene must be improved simultaneously.” It is estimated that demand for water could increase by 65 per cent by 2050. So where will India get its water from?  Many administrators are opting for desalination which is expensive and also not without its problems. Part of India’s problems is waste water/sewage management…so producing more water from desalination without the means of handling it only creates more problems. “The industrial sector’s preference toward desalination is expected to increase with the growing demand for processed water. Many of the coastal municipalities are also keenly looking to invest in desalination,” says consultancy Frost & Sullivan’s environment technologies expert Sasidhar Chidanamarri In a recent working paper titled “Water Supply in Chennai: Desalination and Missed Opportunities”, researcher Sridhar Vedachalam of the New York State Water Resources Instituteat Cornell University wrote that “desalination may provide a reliable supply of water to a city with chronic water shortage, but it is hardly the best option for more than one reason”. “Desalination, while being a source of fresh water, does nothing to address the challenge of managing those extra millions of litres of wastewater,” says Vedachalam. “Recycled water, on the other hand, solves the twin problems in a single shot.” Whilst India wrestles with its mammoth task it is faced with, we at Filcon Filters can provide the answers when it comes to desalination, recycling and filtering of water.