1. Water Conservation
Opportunities in
Industry & Power
Sectors
D. Pawan Kumar

2. Estimated Sectoral Water
Demands in India (2009)
 Water Requirement in Various sectors:
 Irrigation 688 BCM
 Drinking Water 56 BCM
 Industry 12 BCM
 Energy 5 BCM
 Others 52 BCM

3. Depleting reserve apart, energy use for water pumping
also key concern area for sectors like agriculture,
industry and power, for water pumping.
 Agricultural sector draws 104 Billion Units of
electricity.
 Industry sector draws 25 Billion Units of Electricity.
 PWW draws 12 Billion Units of electricity.
 Power Sector accounts for almost 4-5% of generation,
towards pumping needs.

4. As a part of CSR and also for survival needs, industry &
power sector have been addressing water & energy
conservation for concurrent benefits.
The good practices include:
Adopting Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Recharge approach
 Developing standards and reporting procedures for
water consumption
 Determining water foot prints of specific products and
services
 Adoption of zero discharge systems
 Process modifications for reducing water energy
consumption
 Condensate recovery in steam systems

5. The good practices include (Contd)
 CoC improvements in cooling water systems
 Adoption of Reverse Osmosis systems
Green belt development
 Re-use of effluents
 Adopting community based approach through
awareness for better water efficiency
 Roof top water collection
 Rain water collection
 Surface water collection
 Use of blow down water for gardening
 Promotion of water energy nexus interventions.
 Adoption of cleaner production initiatives

6. The good practices include (Contd)
 Adopting Percolation ponds
 Nozzle size reduction in direct use
 Minimizing wastage in desert coolers, fire
hydrants, tanks, canteens, urinals and colonies
 Rain water harvesting by adopting check dams,
peculation pits, Recharging wells
 Re-use drain water for fire fighting
 Re-use back water for process
 Use ICT (Google Earth) for water shed
development
 Adoption of water efficient devices

7. The good practices include (Contd)
 Adopting water efficient drip irrigation equipment
 Promoting water user communities and self help groups
 Promoting lift irrigation projects
 Adopting dry ash disposal systems
 Use of fly ash as building material and for cement
manufacture
 Ash-water ratio optimization in power plants
 Adopting energy efficient pumps, motors and piping
systems
 Promoting demand side management in the use of water
and energy
 Promoting agricultural pump rectification.
 Bio- methanation in sewage treatment plants for power
generation

8. Conclusions:
 Going by experiences so far, major drivers for
water conservation are felt to be :
 Local regulatory interventions/policy .
 Shortfall in quality and quantity of water supply .
 Prevalence of focus on CSR.
 Raising water and electricity tariffs.
 Compliance needs of ISO standards.
 If not already being in place, water conservation
could soon emerge as a key focus area in
industry and power sectors.