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WATER & WASTE TREATMENT FACTORIES THAT ARE FIT FOR THE FUTURE


Ganesh Kothawade, President of Distribution Solutions, ABB India, explains why water usage is the next big challenge after carbon emissions, and how using the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) can help create environmentally friendly factories


their carbon emissions to help limit the effects of global heating. But while we focus on energy use and emissions there is another sustainability issue on the horizon which could have an equally devastating impact on the world if left unchecked – and that’s water use. Only three percent of the Earth’s water is fresh


T


water; 69 percent of this is inaccessible (as it makes up ice caps and glaciers) and 30 percent is found in groundwater. Just 0.3 percent of the world’s freshwater resources is available for human consumption and use, and this is found in rivers and lakes1


. As the world’s population continues to grow,


pressure on freshwater resources is mounting. An estimated 2.3 billion people live in water stressed countries2


million people face extreme water stress3


, including in India where 600 . Water


stress is when demand for water exceeds the available amount, and this is intensified when demand increases or where the water supply is affected by changes in quantity or quality. So why is all this relevant to manufacturers? The industrial sector is forecast to use 24


percent of global freshwater withdrawals by 20254


. In some developed nations the


percentage of water use for industrial purposes is even more (86 percent in Germany). Responsible resource use – whether that be


water, materials or energy - should be the gold standard for manufacturers, and we must conserve water and reuse it where possible. Earlier this year, one of ABB’s manufacturing


facilities in Nashik, India, achieved water positivity certification as part of a wider programme of improvements aimed at operating the factory more sustainably and using resources more responsibly. The plant produces medium voltage (MV) switchgear as well as primary and secondary gas insulated switchgear (GIS)


he race to Net Zero is on and companies across the world are investing considerable amounts of time and money into reducing


equipment, which is used to provide efficient power solutions across India. In 2021, we embarked on ABB’s Mission to Zero


programme. This global initiative has been established to improve energy efficiency and enable building decarbonisation, and to create best practice solutions for ABB’s manufacturing and production sites around the world. Reducing energy use and carbon emissions


is a key part of the Mission to Zero journey. Over the past 2.5 years, the Nashik facility has reduced its CO2 emissions by more than 3,000 tons a year. But arguably our greatest achievement was to become the first ABB facility to achieve water positivity certification. Water positivity is the concept of returning


more water to freshwater sources than is withdrawn and maintaining sustainable water stewardship by establishing a framework for water management. To do this you need to focus on the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle. Like energy use, the first step to reducing


water use is to know how much you are using and where so you can identify where improvements can be made. Installing a water consumption monitoring and analysis system to account for each drop of water can do this and help you plan reduction measures. Using the data from our monitoring system,


we installed water-efficient fixtures and drip- based irrigation to reduce our water consumption by 30 percent quickly. We built a


sewerage treatment plant on site to allow wastewater to be used for irrigation and other domestic purposes. This ensures there is zero liquid discharge from our factory. To further reduce the amount of


freshwater we use, we installed rainwater harvesting equipment which can collect around 14 Olympic swimming pools worth of rainwater a year (approximately 34,486 million litres). This rainwater can be reused for domestic requirements, such as for maintaining the greenery around the factory and for use in the washrooms, and to recharge the groundwater table. While the Nashik facility is located in an


area with a good water supply, some of the surrounding rural areas are not so fortunate. To reduce water stress in nearby villages, we invested in water management structures to capture rainwater in streams which can be used for drinking and agriculture. As a manufacturer striving to be


sustainable, we have a duty to lessen our impact on the water resources of the countries we operate in. Water is a global challenge and not just a problem to be solved in regions where water stress is an issue. Like the climate emergency, we must all pull together to make a difference locally and globally if we are to protect our planet and its resources. 1 https://education.nationalgeographic.org/ resource/freshwater-resources/ 2 https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water- scarcity 3 https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover- story/story/20210329-the-great-indian-thirst-1781 280-2021-03-20 4 https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/ green_economy_2011/pdf/info_brief_water_and_i ndustry_eng.pdf


ABB Distribution Solutions www.abb.com


NOVEMBER 2023 | PROCESS & CONTROL 25


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