Industries wake up to recycling water

The rising pressure on water resources and its costs have driven many firms to adopt re-cycling of water to combat scarcity.

At a seminar, 'Water Scenarios for Indian Business', organised by the Bombay Chambers of Commerce and Industry and TERI-BSCD India (Business Council for Sustainable Development) on Tuesday, representatives from units from several sectors agreed that industries should stop taking the availability of water for granted as India is already under the category of a water-stress zone.

Emphasising the need, chief guest of the function, Governor S M Krishna urged industrialists to give water management the highest priority in their projects.

Former chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and TERI member pointed out that of the 6,000 cubic metre per capita per year consumption of water in 1947, we have reached the 3,000 mark in 1997, which is the water-stress zone and we are heading for the water-scarce category in 50 years at 1,100 mark if don't manage water properly.

In companies, water related activities are handled by their utility department, which get low priority from the top management.

A representative from Bharat Petroleum (BP), senior manager P D Amin said that their refinery in Mangalore had to be shut for two days once because water was not available.

Hence, BP decided to use sea water as a coolant instead of fresh water for its Mumbai refinery.

Although this shift involved extra investments like a cement coating in the pipes to avoid corrosion from sea water. So BP did not have to depend on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for water.

Similarly, Jacobs Engineering India Environmental Engineering Associated Director Yogen Parikh presented an operational model of their effluent treatment plant, which reduced the water requirement per day from 4,030 cubic metres per day to 502 cubic metres per day.

Adding to this A K Jindal from L&T Water Technologies, said that new companies need to step up water investments not just to save environment but as a sensible business decision because cost of water will rise further.

Also present as a panelist Hindustan Unilever Ltd Executive Director Dhaval Buch added that the firm has already taken steps in this direction. Thirty five of its 50 sites produce no discharge and all 50 of them have implemented water re-use facilities.

"Although, HUL made a mistake in its plant at Kodaikanal but as soon as we realised that, we immediately corrected it."

Meanwhile, BP and Suzlon are planning to adopt the re-use of water and implement water-management on a larger scale and in a more structured way.