Mumbai wants to drink the sea. The villages that fish it are pushing back

Mumbai is considering a desalination plant that would take seawater from the coast and turn it into drinkable water, but the local fishing villages are opposing the project. The proposal has been in the works for decades, with the first large-scale desalination plant in India being commissioned in Chennai in 2010. The Manori site, where the new plant would be built, has been earmarked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but the villagers fear it will negatively impact their fishing livelihoods and the environment.

Over 800 villagers and fishermen gathered at the collector's office in October 2021 to protest the plant, and posters against it can now be seen lining the roads of the once-quiet fishing villages. The plant will use reverse osmosis technology, similar to home water purifiers, but on a much larger scale.