Carlsberg Partners With Solar Desalination Firm to Purify Sundarbans Water

The Carlsberg Group has partnered with solar desalination technology firm Desolenator for converting saline water to clean drinking water in the Sundarbans

Multinational brewer Carlsberg Group has announced that it has partnered with Netherlands-based solar desalination technology company Desolenator for converting saline water to clean drinking water for a town of 4,000 people in the Sundarbans, West Bengal.

Desolenator is the world’s first sustainable water purification technology and it will be used for a desalination plant designed to be set up at Sundarbans, located around 120 km from Carlsberg’s Kolkata brewery, it said.

Sundarbans, which is home to around 4.7 million people, is at a critical point because the area is surrounded by saltwater, suffering the immediate consequences of rising sea levels due to climate change. The situation has been compounded in 2020 by COVID-19 and Cyclone Amphan, with water being trucked into some areas, it added.

According to the company, the sustainable desalination project is part of its ‘Together Towards ZERO’ sustainability programme that aims to eliminate water waste across its breweries by 2030 and to protect shared water resources in high-risk areas.

Desolenator’s sustainable water purification system is 100 percent solar-powered and can harvest thermal and electrical energy to distill water.

The project – due to complete in mid-2021 – will create 20,000 litres of clean drinking water, using the heat and power of the sun, it said in a statement.

“Water is one of the four main ingredients in beer and healthy communities with access to clean and safe water is a prerequisite for our breweries around the world. Working in partnership to introduce innovative technology, Carlsberg can help local communities with access to clean water, building on our history of science and innovation and citizenship,” Carlsberg Group CEO Cees’t Hart said in a statement.

The company said a community-led distribution model is being designed through a global and multidisciplinary partnership, including the local expertise of NGOs WaterAid and Sundarbans Social Development Centre, leading researchers from Strathclyde University in the UK, and grant support from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

“This desalination plant is designed to handle such variations and by virtue of its reliance on solar energy makes this an attractive and sustainable option,” WaterAid India CEO VK Madhavan said.

Tailored to the lives and needs of the people of South 24 Pargana’s district, the distribution model will create employment for female micro-entrepreneurs, empowering people and families within the community, the company said.