Asia’s largest reverse osmosis plant, with a capacity to produce 10 Ml/d, has recently been inaugurated in Pakistan’s drought-ridden Sindh province.
The plant was expected to reduce the water crisis in Tharparkar district where, last year, hundreds of children lost their lives after drinking untreated water.
The Rs 300 million (US$ 2.98 million) plant was completed while many 50,000 l/d plants were also set up across the region at a cost of around Rs 2.5 million (US$ 24,900) each.
The Sindh government has said it planned to install 300 RO plants in water-starved regions of the province by February and 150 were already operational.
Chief operating officer of water engineering company, Pak Oasis, Irshad Hussain, said the government had allocated Rs 5.4 billion (US$ 53.7 million) to set up RO plants in the region. He said these plants could be operated by grid or solar electricity but steps were being taken to convert most of the filter plants to solar energy.