Government moves to address potable water shortage with coastal desalination and deep borewells
Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said the Puducherry administration is progressing plans to build a desalination plant along the coast and dig deep borewells in Sivaranthagam village to tackle the shortage of drinking water in Puducherry town. The announcement was made during the Legislative Assembly discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Lieutenant Governor’s address on Tuesday.
- Desalination plant: Experts are studying tide patterns along Puducherry’s coastline before finalising the scheme and the government aims to begin work this year.
- Borewells: Plans are afoot to dig borewells to a depth of around 1,700 feet in Sivaranthagam village, with specialists to be engaged to avoid affecting irrigation needs.
- Stakeholder concerns: The Chief Minister said the project would proceed only after farmers’ concerns are addressed and experts are brought in to minimise disturbance to agriculture.
The Chief Minister was responding to a question raised by BJP legislator A. John Kumar about the lack of availability of potable drinking water in Puducherry town. According to the Assembly record, Mr. Rangasamy said
"steps were being taken to establish the plant this year itself."
Technical and social considerations cited
Officials in the Assembly said the authorities are not rushing into construction without technical studies. The desalination proposal will be informed by an assessment of tidal patterns along the coast, the Chief Minister said, signalling that site selection and plant design will take local marine conditions into account.
On the groundwater initiative, the government intends to engage experts to oversee drilling to depths of about 1,700 feet at Sivaranthagam village. The Chief Minister emphasised that the borewell programme will be designed to avoid interference with the irrigation requirements of farmers and that the project would commence only after addressing stakeholders' concerns.
| Planned intervention | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Desalination plant | Coastal area (Puducherry) | Experts studying tide pattern; target to establish within the year |
| Deep borewells | Sivaranthagam village | Drilling to around 1,700 ft; specialists to be engaged; farmers' irrigation concerns to be addressed |
Broader assembly debate and democratic process
The water plans featured in a wider Assembly discussion that also included concerns about local governance. Independent legislator from Mahe, T. Ashok Kumar, expressed regret that local body elections in the Union Territory had not been held for many years. He noted that the tenure of local bodies ended in 2011 and that the post of State Election Commissioner had been vacant since 2022.
According to the legislator, all legal hurdles regarding delimitation and reservation are now cleared, and the government was free to declare elections within a few months. He urged the appointment of a State Election Commissioner and the completion of other procedures so that elected local bodies, which he called vital to democratic functioning, could be constituted.
The Chief Minister's statements in the Assembly set out a two-pronged approach to improve potable water availability in Puducherry town: a coastal desalination solution and deeper groundwater extraction in a specified village, both subject to technical review and stakeholder consultation. The timelines offered were limited to the target of establishing the desalination plant within the year, and the government signalled it would proceed cautiously to balance drinking water needs with agricultural irrigation requirements.
