Desalination plants could play an important role in improving Sri Lanka’s water supply in the coming decades, Kathiravelu Parameshwaran, Technical Specialist at Sydney Water told a recent symposium organised by the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL).
The global desalination market is expected to grow to 28.1 billion dollars by 2026, up from 16.5 billion dollars in 2020.Prameshwaran said climate change would impact many water sources used by Sri Lankans for drinking and other daily water needs.
“We have seen this happen in Australia. We completed a desalination plant in Sydney in 2019. This was established because there were worries that increasing droughts would affect Sydney water supply. However, within months we had a flood and the water sources we used to supply potable water were contaminated. The desalination plant really helped during this situation,” he said.
Parameshwaran said Sri Lanka hadone functioning desalination plant, the Thalaiyady Seawater Desalination Plant.
“If desalinated water will be Jaffna’s main source of water, we have to ensure that the system is foolproof. We can’t have technical issues that drag on for days,” he said.
Parameshwaran said desalination plants were complex and needed high levels of preparedness for any contingency. Desalination is an expensive process, he said. “Also, a very reliable power supply is very important. We need to have properly trained staff to ensure that the machinery is well maintained. Companies usually only give a seven year warranty, and these machines are expensive. If we think about power usage, equipment and staff costs, desalination is an expensive process,” he said.
Parameshwaran said rather than a single large plant, it would have been better to build several smaller ones in several locations. “This would have helped reduce contingency requirements and impacts caused by desalination plant intake, concentrate disposal and transmission costs,” he said.
(RK)
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