Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that after installation of Kavaratti plant in Andaman Nicobar has cut down the incidence of water borne diseases by 90 per cent  highlighting the health benefits and impact of provision of potable water.

Administrator of Lakshadweep, Daman Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli Praful Patel who had called on Dr Singh to express gratification for initiatives such as installing world’s first of its kind

“Desalination Plant” for drinking water by National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, said that it  has brought huge relief by providing clean drinking water to people of the Union Territory.3

“Total nine desalination plants are approved of which seven are operational and one more will be operationalized in the coming weeks.

The capacity of each of these LTTD units is around 1 Lakh litre of potable water per day which will be increased to 1.5 lakh litres per day in the coming time,” he said.

The LTTD technology uses the naturally available temperature difference in oceans, evaporating the surface water at low pressure and condensing the resultant vapour with deep sea cold water at 12oC, obtained from about 400 m depth.

The technology is indigenous, environmentally friendly and easy to operate.

Dr. Singh also informed Patel that two re-mineralization plants are being made operational which will add the essential salts evaporated during the desalination process.

Other desalination units/plants will also be provided with similar re-mineralization facilities in course of time, he added.