In April 2022, The New Indian Express reported from Kendrapara district in Odisha that two units treating saline river water in Mahakalapada block had stopped working. The state government had built them in 2017 in Gojabandha and Mangalpur to desalinate water from the Luna river. In summer the river's salt content rose so far that, according to an engineer of the RWSS division, it overwhelmed the units. Villagers had to fall back on tube-wells, of which the authority had sunk 2,297 in 31 panchayats, but those were saline too.
The report showed how sensitive small desalination units were to rising salinity in their raw water. For coastal villages without another safe source, a breakdown meant an immediate drinking water shortage.
Source: The New Indian Express