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1.3.2 SDG 6 & the desalination solution

Despite great progress, billions of people still lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation

and hygiene. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a substantial increase in

current global rates of progress: sixfold for drinking water, fivefold for sanitation and
threefold for hygiene. By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building

support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes,
Thesis Report V-SPARC VIT
including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling

and reuse technologies.

1.3.3 Desalination & the Indian scenario

Desalination can be the answer to India’s chronic and dire water problem. It could

potentially create a parallel and reliable source of potable water not only for densely

populated urban cities but also for rural areas with severe water scarcity. The government’s
enthusiastic programs to boost the growth of desalination technology will accelerate the

process.

1.3.4 The Manori Proposal

In 2022, the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) earmarked a 12-hectare land at
Manori village, a seaside hamlet in the northernmost end of suburban Mumbai for setting up

this plant. According to the BMC’s blueprint, this eco-friendly plant would operate
throughout the year. In 2021, the civic body signed a memorandum of understanding

(MoU) with an Israeli firm for creating a Detailed Project Report of this plant and the report
has already been submitted to the BMC in the last quarter of 2022.

1.3.5 The Gorai-Manori-Uttan Recreation & Tourism Development Zone

(RTDZ)

The sanctioned Regional Plan, 1996-2011 for Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)
recognized the tourism potential of Manori-Gorai-Uttan area (MGU) and designated it as

Recreation and Tourism Development Zone (RTDZ). The Government of Maharashtra

subsequently notified MGU area as “RTDZ”. The MGU Notified Area (NA) with a total

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