In November 2016, India and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on water management and development. The countries identified desalination as a key point of focus for their collaboration.  India’s Minister of State for Water Resources, Sanjeev Balyan, pointed to the country’s interest in developing desalination technology via the Department of Science & Technology.  The department has supported reverse osmosis technology for brackish- and seawater-desalination plants, as well as hybrid solar technologies for a thermal desalination system located in Tamil Nadu.^[1]

Meanwhile, in the city of Mangaluru, India’s department of urban development is planning to implement a pilot desalination plant with help from private investors. The department’s objective is to meet the demands of the private and commercial sectors by using desalinated water.^[2] A foreign company with interest in the pilot project has already planned a visit to Mangaluru.

This month in Singapore, the national water agency, PUB, will sign a water purchase agreement with Keppel Infrastructure Holdings for its latest desalination project.^[3]  Keppel, a Singapore-based company, will transport 137,000 cubic metres of water per day from the Marina East Desalination plant, according to the terms stipulated by a Design, Build, Own, and Operate (DBOO) contract.  Black & Veatch will provide consultancy services for the facility.  This project is the sixth DBOO arrangement between PUB and the private sector.

Muscat Water has completed the construction of its new desalination plant in Quyarat, Oman.  The plant will produce 8,000 cubic metres of desalinated water per day for neighboring villages.^[4]

And in the drought-plagued city of Durban, South Africa, officials have planned the construction of a (ZAR) 600 million desalination plant (USD 43,987,356).^[5]  The eThekwini Municipality and a Japanese company—New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization—will finance the construction of the facility. An environmental impact assessment is already underway, and building is expected to last for three years.^[6]