‘Water has wealth attached to it,
judicious use needed’
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 11
Industrial units in the Capital can reap profits if they judiciously use the available water resources, the convenor of the water and environment panel of the CII Delhi State Council, Mr V N Das, said. “Water has wealth attached to it. Judicious use of water can in the long run bring about substantial amount of profit for the unit,” he said and expressed the need to bring about awareness about the need to recycle the wastewater in industrial units.

Stating that not many units in the Capital have set up water treatment plant in their establishment, he said the premier industry organisation would be holding a workshop later this month to highlight the need for water management – sustainable solutions for tomorrow. He said the electroplating units and chemical industry requires huge quantity of water and other industrial units use comparatively less amount of water. These units can set up recycling plants as the water is less contaminated. This would, in the long run, reduce the amount of recurring investment on water each year and this would bring about profit to the units.

Apart from buying water, Mr V.N. Das said the units could set up water harvesting plants in their industrial establishment, which would in the long run reduce the industry’s dependence on outside source for water.

Mr Das said there is an urgent need for the industry to look at water as a precious commodity and try to conserve it as the water table in the Capital was going down each year.

About 86 per cent of the Delhi’s total water supply is from surface water, most of which comes from the Yamuna and 282 million cubic meters (mcm) of allocated water flows unutilized. The unutilized rain water run-off, from a rainfall of 611.8 mm in 27 days is 192 mcm.

Increasing domestic and industrial activity have led to greater generation of wastewater. There also exists a wide gap between wastewater discharge of 4,225 million litres per day and treatment capacity of 1,332 million litres per day.

Further, the ground water table in the Capital, which was at 30 to 40 feet at the time of Independence, is now close to 350 feet. Experts have assessed that the ground water resource in Delhi was as 292 mcm, while the present withdrawal is 312 mcm, indicating that the water resources is depleting fast in the city and there is an urgent need to check the phenomenon.

Mr Das said the setting up of water harvesting plants should become the order of the day in the city and the industrial units can take the lead in this direction.

Had the pre-monsoon showers, in the first rainfall of the season in Delhi, been harvested, 19,305 million litres would have been added to the city’s aquifers and could have generated enough water for over 1,000 tube-wells to run for 100 days, he said.

Stating that rain water harvesting is the need of the hour if Delhi is to survive, Mr Das said the workshop would bring about awareness to the captains of industry about water harvesting, costing and long term benefits and success stories.