Indus Valley Times

On World Water Day, recommits to becoming Net Water Positive by 2030

By Dr.Pramod Sahukar

New Delhi/Lanjigarh, March 22: Vedanta Aluminium Business, India’s largest producer of aluminium, has recycled 12.5 billion litres of water as of February during FY 2022-23. On World Water Day, the companyhas also undertaken the groundbreaking ceremony of a newSewage Treatment Plant (STP)with a processing capacity of 440 kilo litres per day (KLD),at its mega aluminium smelter in Jharsuguda. Once operational, the treated water from the facility will be reused within the plant premises, reducing fresh water consumption by 15 crore litres per year. This reiterates the company’scommitment to become Net Water Positive within the decade, leveraging advanced technologies for efficient water utilisation and community participation towards building a sustainable water footprint.Vedanta Aluminium’s water sustainability efforts are aligned to the 6th UN Sustainable Development Goal of‘Clean Water and Sanitation’. 

In the week leading up to World Water Day, Vedanta Aluminium organized an interactive session with RamveerTanwar, popularly known as the Pond Man of India and a noted pond conservationist, to encourage employees and community members to work towards water conservation in their personal and professional capacities. Desilting and restoration activities of several waterbodieswere also undertaken at its operations in Kalahandi and Jharsuguda districts, Odisha and in Korba, Chhattisgarh, with the active participation of employee volunteers and professional experts. Further, the company organized community marches and street plays at local educational institutions to spread increased awareness of the need to conserve water. 

Speaking about the program, Mr. Rahul Sharma, CEO, Vedanta Limited – Aluminium Business, said,“On World Water Day, we recommit to our mission of becoming Net Water Positive and ensuring a sustainable water footprint in the regions where we operate. The quality of our lives and business sustainability is contingent on the planet and hence, excellence in ESG (Environment, Social & Governance) forms the bedrock of our aspirations. Water is a critical shared resource that is crucial to sustaining the ecology and communities around us, and hence, our endeavours areaimed at ensuring the sustainability of our operations and making more water available for local communities and biodiversity.”

Commenting on the impact of the new STP project, Mr. Ajay Pandey, COO – Power, Vedanta Jharsuguda, said “Our operations maintain a laser-focus on ensuring the judicious usage of precious water resources. By deploying a strategic mix of resource conservation and source rejuvenation programs, we have been successful in achieving a steady improvement in our water management efforts. The new Sewage Treatment Plant provides an additional fillip to our efforts in this regard and will help accelerate our roadmap to water positivity.”

The company has a structured 4-pronged approach to water sustainability, which involves:

Robust monitoring of water usage:

·         Water management is integrated into decision-making processes for all projects

Water-related risk assessments have been carried out to identify the degree of water stress, and accordingly, undertake mitigation measures

All water quality parameters, including reduction of specific water consumption, are strictly monitored

Quick Response Teams respond to extreme weather conditions, including unprecedented heavy rainfall

Internet of Things (IoT) and other leading-edge technologies deployed for efficient & automated water management

Ensuring maximum water reutilization:

·         Stringent control measures and technologies adopted to ensure zero discharge operations

·         High-Concentration Slurry Disposal (HCSD) system deployed for ash management to ensure maximum water recycling through feedback loops

·         Operational excellence in Cooling Tower systems have resulted in one of the best Cycles of Concentration (COC) globally; higher the COC, less is the additional freshwater intake

Creating a positive water footprint:

·         Partnership with TÜV SÜD, a global leader in sustainability solutions, for creating the roadmap for Vedanta Aluminium to become net water positive

·         Rainwater harvesting infrastructure and on-site water reservoirs created for water sourcing during contingency scenarios

Working with local communities:

·         Restoration and rejuvenation of over 40 community waterbodies inthe vicinity of its operations in Chhattisgarh and Odisha in this fiscal alone

·         Training communities on growing climate-resilient crops and adopting better methodologies (like SRI technology in paddy cultivation) for improving yield in the face of irregular climactic conditions

·         Helping local farming communities adopt drip-irrigation, treadle pump, solar powered water pumps, rainwater harvesting structures like percolation tanks, etc. to boost irrigation potential and reduce dependency on monsoons for cropping

·         Construction of hundreds of community water infrastructures like check dams, tube wells, bore wells, farm ponds, percolation tanks, etc. to help communities get perennial access to water for household and irrigation purposes

·         Integrated watershed management benefiting thousands of communities through livelihood creation, capacity building, new livelihood opportunities and more