Even though 71% of our planet is covered with water, only 2.5% of it is potable, out of which only 1% is fresh water.
As Essar Steel ramps up production, the demand for water increases. The amount of water available in the river is shrinking day by day. The cost of water is also increasing every year by about 10%.
The Essar Steel team started the journey to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle the water that it pumps from the River Tapi in October 2017. Several initiatives were taken up—while some have been completed, others are in various stages of completion.
- 100% utilisation of the water discharged from HBI modules 1-4 for reuse in Blast Furnace
- 100% utilisation of the water discharged from Corex and HBI 5-6 for reuse in slag cooling
- Discharge of EAF, Casters and HSM cooling towers to be used as feed for fire water
- 100% discharge of Conarc Phase 1, CSP Casters 1 and 2 and CSP Mill cooling towers is recycled in ETP
- 100% Plant B Fire water sump maintained by recycled water. Complete stoppage of fresh water
- Discharge of Power Plant to be used as feed for Fire Water
- About 80% of Plant B area and 50% of Plant A area horticulture water consumption has been reduced by using the feed from various cooling towers
- Leakages at 45 different places have been arrested
- Laid more than 1 km of water pipelines
- Strict discipline enforced in conservation of water used in Plant B
- Almost 15,000 KL of rainwater has been utilised in various Plant A circuits – this even as rainfall has been deficient in Hazira
- Rainwater harvesting is being envisaged, with an aim to recover an additional 15,000 KL of rainwater this year, when good rains are expected
- Engineering design is being done to recycle the water used in the Township
All these initiatives have resulted in savings of more than Rs 100 lakh/month. All units have increased their focus on reducing the consumption of water by arresting leakages at various places. Until date, the team been able to recycle almost 6000 KL of water per day. The specific water consumption has reduced from a high of 4.9 KL/tonne of crude steel in the second quarter to 3.98 KL/tonne in the previous quarter. This in itself has amounted to a saving of more than Rs 1.3 crore/month in the last quarter.
The march towards complete recycling and reusing of the available water is long. However, with strong management focus, which is mandatory for water conservation, the journey has already started. We aim to make every drop of water count.