Giving water the right treatment
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CII-GBC award encourages industrial units to think innovatively and help the community, writes S.Vishwanath
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The Centre for Indian Industries-Green Business Centre, organises an annual ‘national award on excellence in water management’ competition for industries. This year was the fifth edition of the awards and saw an encouraging response with tough competition.
The awards are organised into two categories: Within the fence, which looks at industries’ performance in reducing water demand, encouraging water conservation and managing waste water flows in their own campus; and Beyond the fence, which looks at what industries are doing with communities for water solutions. A seven-member jury representing experts from varied sectors evaluate the track record of participants.
There were 24 participants in ‘Within the fence’ and seven ‘Beyond the fence’ from industries ranging from tobacco to paper to fertilizer and steel. Representing a diverse set of actors in the developing economy seriously challenged for water resources, this presents the positive face of Indian industry.
Key issues
Certain key issues emerged which show the challenges to India’s economical growth potential and the solutions proffered by the best.
Water can be a key resource constraint for expansion and operation of industries.
Irrespective of a steel plant drawing water from a dam, another drawing water from a river or an automobile ancillary dependant on groundwater, all of them are reporting a resource crunch with the availability of water.
Even though the cost of water maybe a minuscule component of the overall cost of production, it occupies a share in management far beyond its current value. Industries have had to shut operations causing huge losses simply because of the lack of water. The response is to appoint water managers and bring in efficiency and reduction in its ‘specific consumption’ i.e. unit of water per product unit.
The best industries no longer treat wastewater as a waste but have put in place extensive systems to recover all possible values from the discharge. They are also conscious of the pollution impact and have eliminated it fully.
All industries have reached process standards such as ISO 9001, OSHAS, EMS to help them manage their water systems efficiently. Constant improvement is the mantra they adopt.
Rainwater harvesting
The realisation that rainwater is a resource available to replace de-mineralised water, to be able to recharge source groundwater and to store and use for specific purpose cut across all industries and regions. Rainwater harvesting has been adopted more enthusiastically by industries than any other sector.
The best and the biggest and even the relatively small ones are engaging with communities in a truly participative manner for water and sanitation needs. The better ones have professional social workers and community organisers to help them truly understand people’s needs and to implement long-term sustainable solutions. These industries have realised that the community is their responsibility and merely being islands of excellence in an ocean of need will no longer simply do.
All the competitors have benchmarked themselves against not only the best within the country but also globally.
In several cases, Indian industries have exceeded global companies in specific water use and water use efficiency, a heartening signal that we aim for the top.
What the competition has done is create a learning platform for sharing best practices and to showcase it for others to follow.
As industrial water demand will be the fastest rising consumption compared to any sector, getting our act right here can only add to the sustainability of the fast-depleting resource.
The CII-GBC and the participats deserve kudos for the water wisdom that they are showing.
www.rainwaterclub.org
www.arghyam.org
zenrainman@gmail.com
080-23641690
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