The CII-GBC National Awards for Excellence in Water Management 2007 are an important step towards encouraging, supporting and applauding industry efforts to conserve water and reduce toxic effluent discharge. As India's economic boom gathers more and more momentum with each passing year, industrial water and energy use and related environmental impacts are going to be among the most critical factors in resource sustainability debates in the country and elsewhere. The companies portrayed represent a wide spectrum of industry: paper, metals, agro-processing, synthetic fibre, petroleum, transport, cement, energy, fertilizer, soft drinks and more.
Made available to us by the CII-GBC, the presentations offered here describe in detail just how these varied companies have undertaken wide ranging and often innovative eco-friendly modifications to equipment and procedures both within the their plants and in the townships around them. Technical parameters, financial implications and gains/savings are all clearly documented, making them valuable resource materials for study amongst the industrial community in India and elsewhere. While specific industries can of course gain from the sector specific innovations, there is also a wealth of material on ideas whose utility cuts across sectors, potentially benefiting industry as a whole.
Some related content
- Read a description of the event by S. Vishwanath of the Rainwater Club, who was on the jury
- Foreword for NUWA 2007 by Mr L S Ganapati, Chairman National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2007
- Case studies on Water Management by Industry from the CII-GBC National Awards for Excellence in Water Management (2008)
Broad Trends
A close examination of the presentations reveals certain emerging trends and commonalities. Here are some of them:
- Improving cooling tower operations
- Efficient effluent treatment and usage of waste
- CSR activities in water harvesting and watershed interventions
- Attitudinal and awareness drives like water audits
These varied approaches to the urgent task of making Indian industry water efficient can go a long way towards limiting the draft that factories make on our limited resources, thereby releasing more for primary domestic and agricultural needs. Given the willingness and enthusiasm that India's industry leaders are showing for the cause, perhaps it's time to go a step further and explore the possibility of mandating at least a few such process and equipment modifications so that they become baseline industry standards. One way could be to name certain innovative techniques after the companies that have implemented them on a voluntary basis through in house efforts. It would be a way of further recognizing good initiatives and spreading their application. Any takers?
As a major user of water and generator of effluents, the corporate sector has a tremendous impact on India's water and sanitation situation, especially in the current context of accelerating growth and industrial development. While it is good to look at the environmental and resource use dimensions of corporate activities - as indeed of any sector of the economy - with a critical eye, it is also important to acknowledge efforts made by this sector to behave in an ecologically responsible manner, whatever their limitations might be. Here are several such corporate initiatives from some of India's leading domestic and multinational, public and private players.
Note: The presentations are large in size (greater than 20MB in most cases) so we have provided short writeups to help you decide which will be most useful for you.
Best practice case studies
- Bharat Petroleum (Thane district, Maharashtra)
- HINDALCO Industries (Muri, Jharkhand)
- Reliance Energy (Dahanu, Maharashtra)
- Hindalco Industries (Renukoot, Sonbhadra - Uttar Pradesh)
- Heavy Water Plant (Department of Atomic Energy) Kota, Rajasthan
- ITC Ltd
- Reliance Industries Ltd., (Vadodra manufacturing division)
- Coca Cola India (Varanasi plant)
- JK Paper Ltd., (Jaykaypur, Orissa)
- Nagarjuna Fertilisers (Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh)
- Pepsico India Ltd., (PALAKKAD, KERALA)
- Shree Cement Ltd., (Beawar, Rajasthan)
- Tata Chemicals (Babrala, Uttar Pradesh)
- Vizag Steel (Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh)
- ITC Ltd., (Munger, Bihar)
- Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., (Nashik, Maharashtra)
- Naini Tissues Ltd., (Kashipur, Uttarkhand)
- Sterlite Industries India Ltd., (Silvassa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli)
- Thirumalai Chemicals (Ranipet, Tamil Nadu)
- Ashok Leyland (Hosur, Karnataka)
- Birla Corporation Ltd., Cement Division (Satna, Madhya Pradesh)
- EID Parry (India) Ltd., (Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu)
- Indo Rama Synthetics (I) Ltd., (Butibori, Maharashtra)
- ITC Ltd PSPD unit (Kovai, Tamil Nadu)
- MICO Bosch (Jaipur, Rajasthan)
- Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Yamuna nagar, Haryana)
- Carrier Aircon (Gurgaon, Haryana)
- GMR Energey Ltd., (Mangalore, Karnataka)
- Hindustan Zinc Ltd., (Chanderia, Rajasthan)
- ITC Bhadrachalam (Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh)
- JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., (Kankroli, Rajasthan)
- Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., (Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu)