Companies have to take proactive steps to optimise water usage: Sudhir Shenoy

As water scarcity problem grows grimmer, industries are facing the danger of temporary shutdown of their manufacturing units and thus hurting their revenue streams. As a result companies are looking at ways to ensure optimal utilisation of water and effective treatment of effluent. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Sudhir Shenoy, country manager, Dow India, discusses the hurdles facing the manufacturing sector with respect to water availability and probable solution to mitigate these challenges.

Why is it imperative for industries to become water efficient? What role can industry play in addressing the issue of water scarcity?

Growing economies and increasing population are mounting pressure on already over-used water supplies. Agricultural runoffs, sewage disposals and other forms of pollution are further intensifying the scarcity of potable water for human use and clean enough water for industrial use. Manufacturing is one of the sectors most vulnerable to be adversely impacted by water shortage. Mckinsey estimates that the global demand for manufacturing will increase by 400 percent by 2030 - prioritising efficient use of water by the industry is a critical step to safeguard both - the environment and the bottom-line.

According to the World Bank, about 13 percent of available freshwater is used by industries in India. This demand is estimated to grow at 4.2 percent and will reach three times the current need to 228 billion cubic metres by 2025. The impact of this demand will not only be felt by the industry, but also society as a whole. At this rate, water will become an expensive and heavily regulated resource with controlled access. 

Recently, we saw community standing up-in-arms with industry in one of India’s textile hubs, where excessive water usage and inadequate effluent treatment affected the community. Cases like these speak volumes about how important it is for the industry to ensure optimal water usage and effective effluent treatment. 

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A few years ago, Indian industry was considered more water intensive than its global counterpart. This is changing quickly. Over the last few years, a number of companies across sectors have started initiatives for water conservation as well as reuse and are actively working on lowering effluents and establishing modern effluent treatment plants. With increasing awareness about business and environmental benefits of these practices and a nudge by government regulations, the industry will definitely choose a more proactive approach in optimising water usage and finding solutions that can address water scarcity challenge effectively. 

Which technologies are currently available for water & wastewater treatment?

The industry has come a long way in addressing physical, chemical and biological contamination of water. Today’s water technologies make water safer, more accessible, more efficiently treated and effectively distributed. At Dow India, we have the technology - if you overlook the psychological barrier a bit - capable of converting sewage, volume-wise largest pollutant in India, to completely safe potable water.  We have a broad portfolio of ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis membranes, ultra-filtration membranes, fine particle filters and electrode-ionisation products, with numerous applications for industrial and municipal water, industrial processes, pharmaceuticals, power generation, waste treatment and water reuse.

Given the variety of waste/impurities to be treated, water & wastewater treatment is a complex process. How can companies/government bodies choose right method of treatment for a given wastewater source? 

In recycling wastewater, there can seldom be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Depending on the severity and composition of pollutants and the end use of recycled water, often a unique combination of technologies is deployed for treatment of wastewater. Let me give you an example here - treatment of bio-degradable waste in the river Ganga and that of effluents of the Tirupur textile belt will be vastly different in terms of technology. To choose the right method, reviewing available technologies and solutions is imperative. Consultation with experts, examination of contaminants and available resources and cost for treatment should be part of the course in deciding the right treatment method.

Desalination, or removal of salts and minerals from both saline and brackish water to make it suitable for industry and human consumption, was traditionally considered a capital- and energy-intensive process. Since salt is not suspended but dissolved in water, it is difficult to separate. However, in the last few years, technology has taken significant strides and desalination has now become sustainable, both environmentally and economically. 

In India, there are places where the ratio of access to fresh water and population density is vastly skewed. Additionally, there are industrial clusters which do not receive preference on fresh water resources and are often located farther. Creating a sustainable water and energy pipeline is an imperative for them, and desalination technology can offer tangible benefits. 

The last decade has witnessed decrease in capital expenditure on desalination plants by over 30 percent. This has been primarily achieved by decreasing the energy required for converting impure water to pure. We, at Dow India, are working with a thermo-dynamic minimum - which is an efficiency of over 99 percent. 

We have created some laudable successes across the world where our expertise has helped in building sustainable desalination plants with varied scales - from Soreq and Ashkelon in Israel to Jamnagar in India. Some of these plants have been operational for almost a decade and have contributed significantly to communities, ecologies as well as economies.  

Water recycling technologies have been adopted by various industries. How has the progress been so far? 

A company’s commitment to environment, community, and business sustainability is reflected by its take on water usage and related operations. 

Industries - petrochemicals and refining, fertilizers, paper and pulp to name a few - traditionally consume a lot of water and produce many effluents. In recent times, minimum liquid discharge (MLD) - a term coined by us, has risen as a cost-effective and sustainable technology that can help companies enhance their water-footprint by upto 95 percent. This a significant improvement when compared to recovery through the traditional zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology.

According to the new norms in India, brownfield projects are quickly adapting these technologies and most of the industrial effluent treatment plants are now set up with recycling facilities. In case of greenfield projects, the licenses and permissions are only issued once the compliance is established. 

Industry also realises that the cost of recovered water is less than the cost of the fresh water from other sources. With the financial benefit of setting up water recycling plants, the industry has more reasons to embrace this change - wilfully. 

In my opinion municipal waste is no different. Municipal waste can be categorised into two broad buckets - grey water (wastewater from domestic chores) and black water (water contaminated with human and industrial waste). 

At Dow, we have solutions that make it possible to convert black water into drinkable water - we call it the ‘Sewage-to-Tap’ technology. Understandably, there is a huge stigma attached to consumption of water that has been recycled from human waste. However, as a first step, Indian municipalities can distribute recycled water for toilet flushing and gardening, through a dual pipe system. Further, the renewed water can be used in sustainable landscaping irrigation, for recharge groundwater aquifers and to meet commercial water needs. This not only makes the equation plant friendly, but also profit friendly. 

How is Dow serving the water & wastewater treatment industry in India? What are your growth plans for the same? 

The expertise of Dow Water and Process Solutions is in the tertiary treatment of water and can be categorised into 5 buckets on the basis of end-use ie micro-filtration, ultra-filtration, nano-filtration, reverse-osmosis and ion-exchange. A combination of these technologies can address any challenge on water reuse, desalination and creating water systems in closed loops. This makes it relevant to the creation of Smart Cities on the coastline, developing industrial clusters and enabling efficiency in existing community water systems.

We believe in creating a win-win partnership with all stakeholders that we work with. Our business solutions help companies tap new and bigger profit pools, reduce material costs, address operational challenges, and build greater resilience. These solutions are extended to communities (and to countries) thereby reducing the burden on natural capital and optimizing the food-energy-water nexus. We also have solutions for the point-of-use water purification, where our RO membranes and ultra-filtration technologies utilised by OEMs and are also well-known in the replacement market. 

Over the years, our technology has helped our partners in India be ahead of the curve in this evolving market.