Tamil Nadu

This presentation deals with the water conservation efforts of Sterlite Industries India Ltd in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. Apart from certain measures for reuse of process water, conversion to air cooling systems from water cooling ones and so on, what is interesting here is more the management structure for water conservation.

Forwarded to the Portal by S. Krishna Kumar, Research Scholar, Bharathidasan University ====== Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, is organising a workshop on Environmental Pollutants and their control. The primary topic is environmental pollutant monitoring/testing   by employing GC-MS (Gas Chromatograph- Spectrophotometer). It is a fully hands-on workshop to be guided by experienced faculty. The workshop is from 27-30 August 2009, with last date for application 10th August 2009.

This presentation by C Vishnupriya of Bharat Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai looks at an existing residential building with a rainwater harvesting system that is not adequately sized.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Nitya Jacob, UN

Dr Kurien Baby, District Collector of Trissur, Kerala, and Solution Exchange Water Community are organizing a regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. The dates are 16-17 June 2009, and it will be held in Trissur.

Background

Kerala has among the highest well densities in India, and 71% of the population depends on them for drinking water. The aggregate household investment in the state on wells is pegged at Rs 1800 crore and they have a combined yield potential of 6.6 million cu m per day. That works out to a water availability of 197 litres of water per capita per day (lpcd), well above the government's prescribed norm of 140 lpcd. These wells are threatened. Despite an annual rainfall of 3,000 mm, 70% go dry in summer. The surface runoff is heavy, and therefore groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems.

Some of the changes proposed are as follows –

• In section 4 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for clauses (a) and (b), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
• the number of wells that were in existence in the scheduled area immediately before the date of commencement of this Act;
• the use of groundwater in the scheduled area for agricultural purposes immediately before the date of commencement of this Act;
• the number of wells from which water is extracted for domestic purposes;
• the number of wells from which water is extracted for industries, automobile service centres, multipurpose halls and other commercial centres;
• the number of water sources both public and private;
  • In sub-section (2), for item (vii), the following items shall be substituted namely:-
  • the details of the methods  adopted for groundwater conservation and rain water harvesting;
  • the quality of water with scientific evidence;
  • such other matter as may be prescribed.

This presentation describes the water conservation efforts made by ITC Limited,  PSPD unit, Kovai, Tamil Nadu. ITC's Kovai unit manufactures paperboard and specialty papers (PSPD). Investments of Rs 30 million in water conservation, Rs.500 million on energy conservation and Rs.150 million on waste utilization have helped this plant achieve many breakthroughs, among them zero effluent discharge and zero solid waste output. 100% of the fly ash from the boiler, sludge from the ETP & plastics from waste is recycled.

The use of waste biomass as the main fuel for the boiler has reduced CO2 emissions by 96,000 tonnes per annum. Under the green belt development activities, vegetation has gone up from 20,000 trees in 2004-'05 to 80,500 in 2006-'07.

This paper published on the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) website examines the reasons behind the new project and the institutional, financial and legal aspects of the Tirupur PPP.

It also examines important legal issues such as the right to water, competing interests in water, financing of projects, waste water management and the environmental consequences of the PPP. More particularly, it questions the wisdom of planning a water supply project that seeks to prioritize the needs of a polluting industry over the basic water needs of the region.

The New Tirupur Area Development Corporation Limited (NTADCL) is the first public private partnership, set up in 1995 primarily to supply industrial water to Tirupur, a major export centre for knitwear, in India. This water supply and sewerage project is also the first project to be structured on a commercial format; first concession by a state government to a public limited company to draw raw water for domestic and industrial uses and to collect revenues; the first index-based user charges and direct cost recovery for urban environmental services.

This presentation describes the efforts undertaken by EID parry India Ltd, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu for water conservation. For a company that goes back more than two centuries, this sugar manufacturer is remarkably modern, with a fully automated plant and an equally modern conservation ethic.

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