Ficci to start water auditing

The water resources ministry has tied up with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) to take up water auditing in industrial units in the beverage, textile, pulp and paper, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.

The first audit is expected to be carried out in the Ghaziabad district in Uttar Pradesh and will later be extended to other industrial clusters.

A water audit determines the amount of water lost from a distribution system because of leakage and other reasons and the cost of the loss to a utility.

It is considered an important step towards water conservation and is linked with a leak detection mechanism, which can save of a large amount of money and time. Officials told Business Standard the proposal submitted by Ficci to the ministry relating to industrial clusters in the Ghaziabad district had been accepted.

Water auditing will entail recording the amount of water produced and the amount delivered to metered and un-metered users. It will also record the amount of water loss.

A cost-benefit analysis of the potential improvements will also be carried out.

"The project will help industrial units to assess the actual water demand and the wastage points. Besides, it will also help them to identify ways to save water," said an official.

It is estimated that there are 145 functional medium/heavy industries with a total capital investment of Rs 2,930.86 crore, employing about 31,200 workers.

These units can broadly be divided into 10 sectors, of which Ficci has identified five for the audit in the pilot project. The study will concentrate on 12 industrial units, with at least two industries selected randomly from the selected sectors.

The water resources ministry will be providing technical assistance through its expert bodies for conducting the audits. The government has already drafted guidelines for water audit and water conservation.