In September 2019, The Times of India reported that V Narayanasamy, chief minister of the Union territory of Puducherry, told its legislative assembly that desalination plants were the only way to cover future water demand. The government intended to ask a French agency for funding for drinking water projects, desalination among them. Rainwater harvesting structures were also to become compulsory for every household. The background was low rainfall that year and fast falling groundwater reserves; desilting of tanks and lakes had already begun.
The report showed that in 2019 even smaller coastal territories in India treated desalination as a fixed part of their drinking water planning and looked to foreign funding for it.
Source: The Times of India