Mumbai : Plans to set up an ambitious desalination plant in Mumbai to help municipal authorities meet growing water shortage have been put on hold.

The 100 MLD desalination plant was to be the first in the city and was expected to tide over the city's consistent water woes. But, after nearly two years, the project has been removed from Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai's priority list.

Though the project has not been shelved, it has been put on the back burner as the per litre cost of the desalinated water was turning out to be quite exorbitant.

State government officials have claimed that after going through all proposals, the desalination plant project has been found to be financially unviable though they admit that due to political compulsions, the project has still not been officially shelved.

Over the pastfew months, authorities had been making efforts to find out the best possible technology for the desalination plant. Officials had also visited Chennai, the first coastal Indian city to boast one major desalination plant, and two more underway.

BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC-projects) Rajeev Jalota told India Water Review that plans to set up the desalination plant have been put on hold for now since the cost of per litre of desalinated water was turning out to be on the higher side.

“We would like to find out technologies that would help us bring down the cost of water. We are exploring all options like solar powered desalination plants or those that use new membrane technologies which are more efficient. The project is not on our immediate priority list and we are trying to address other concern areas like bringing down the revenue losses", said Jalota.

The cost of desalinated water and the cost of land for the plant has remained a major concern area for the municipal authorities. Under the current proposal, the BMC will have to reportedly shell out about Rs 70 for processing 1,000 litres through desalination while the average cost of processing 1,000 litres is Rs 10-12.

Also, though land has been acquired -- a tough exercise considering that the area has to be suitable from all aspects -- the cost of acquiring it from a private entity is proving to prohibitive. The BMC had been scouting for land measuring between 25 to 50 acres for the plant.

A senior BMC official said Mumbai will not be able to have a similar desalination strategy as followed in Chennai, which would eventually have three desalination plants.

"Unlike Chennai, the residential consumer accounts for almost 90 per cent of the total water demand in Mumbai. Of this, almost 50 per cent people stay in slums and can't afford high prices of water. The industrial and commercial users in Mumbai only account for over 8 per cent of water demand. The water demand dynamics is different in Mumbai and the economic viability of putting up a desalination plant remains low at the moment", the official added.