Water Treatment in Industrialised India

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The Future of Water Treatment

With the projected demand for water far exceeding the availability of freshwater resources, manufacturers are now turning to desalination technology to process seawater to standards that are suitable for industrial and even human consumption. Current desalination technologies are of two kinds:

Thermal-based desalination that includes multi-stage flash distillation and multipleeffect distillation.

Membrane-based desalination such as reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis.

Although multi-stage flash distillation is currently used in most desalination plants around the world, reverse osmosis is also rapidly gaining ground as a popular desalination technology. Another more recent technique that has received much appreciation from manufacturers is solar-based desalination, which harnesses solar power either as energy for reverse osmosis, or as a means of performing desalination via the evaporationcondensation cycle. For many years, desalination was considered an unviable solution for industries around the world, on account the inhibitive costs associated with these processes.

However, recent technological advances have helped in turning the cost situation around. Experts believe that for a country with as expansive a coastline as India, desalination will soon emerge as one of the most reliable and effective sources of industrial water.

Overcoming a History of Apathy

Water—being a life-critical resource—has traditionally been a state responsibility. Subsidised rates and relatively easy availability have created a common public perception of water as a ‘free resource’. A lax attitude towards water management and the conservative use of available water resources has, over the years, downplayed the government’s efforts to establish a robust regulatory and institutional framework. Further, it is only recently that the government has realised the importance of establishing guidelines for treating industrial refuse, prior to its discharge into the country’s water bodies — in the past, industries have been known to dispose of their effluents in rivers, lakes and seas without adequate treatment, a practice that continues to extend into the present, despite the government’s efforts and initiatives.

The Indian industrial sector is largely fragmented, with small scale industries comprising a significant proportion of the country’s industrial base. These industries often lack the technical knowhow and awareness about the importance of recycling and reusing water. As per a recent report by the Tata Strategic Management Group, less than half of the wastewater produced by industries in India is treated. Industries that do have effluent treatment plants often use outdated and redundant technologies, producing water qualities that fall far below the prescribed norms.

To encourage industries to leverage the latest technological innovations in water treatment and management, the Government of India has established a strong regulatory framework, the cornerstones of which are the National Water Policy of 2002, the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act of 1974 and the Environment Protection Act of 1986. Such legislations have proved very effective in allocating water, an increasingly scarce resource, on the basis of a prioritybased hierarchy that places drinking water on the top rung, followed by irrigation, hydropower and industrial use. Further, the framing of pollution control norms and guidelines for monitoring authorities at both the central and the state level have proved effective in responsible industrial use of water.

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