Tata Steel, JSW draw water sustainability strategies

With several cities facing water crisis, companies such as Tata Steel and JSW are focusing on sustainability of water, a critical resource for steel majors apart from iron-ore and coal.

"Our water sustainability strategy for future- readiness is to continue investing in sewage treatment plant (STP), and creating new rain water harvesting (RWH) structures at various locations to improve the groundwater table," Tata Steel said in its latest annual report.

A 25 millions of litres per day (MLD) tertiary treatment plant was commissioned at its Bara STP to convert sewage water of the Jamshedpur township into process water for reuse in steel manufacturing.

"This will help us to reduce our fresh water consumption by 18 per cent in the future," the company said.

The steel maker also said 29 million litres of RWH structures were added at the Joda east iron ore mine in the last fiscal.

"Water is a critical resource used as a coolant in the steelmaking process. Currently, over 3m3 of freshwater is required per tonne of crude steel produced," Tata Steel said in the report.

Another steel major, JSW Steel, is creating infrastructure for recycling water and implementing technology to lower fresh water intake.

It is building a 500m3/day STP and new technology at the steel melting shop in Vijaynagar for reduced fresh water consumption and rainwater harvesting at the Dolvi plant, the company said.