India’s largest aluminium producer Vedanta recycles 16.5 billion litres of water in FY21

India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, Vedanta has recycled 16.5 billion litres of water in FY 20-21, capitalizing technology for focused control and monitoring of water consumption.

The water-saving projects covering its Aluminium smelters, Alumina refinery and Power plants have standalone resulted in water conservation in accordance of 700 million litres.

The operations of Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Aluminium are governed by the Vedanta Sustainable Development Framework, which incorporates a powerful suite of technical & management standards and guidance notes developed under control with global sustainability management practices oriented to the International Financial Corporation (IFC), International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), etc.

The aluminium company’s Water Management Policy chaperone its efforts towards the exploration of opportunities for reducing the water consumption and stimulates increased water reutilization and zero liquid discharge from operations, in line with Vedanta's commitment to the 6th UN Sustainable Development Goal – Clean Water and Sanitation.

Lately, Vedanta has operationalized an additional roof-top rainwater harvesting system, adjoining to the long list of ongoing water conservation projects.

The rainwater harvesting system has a collection capacity of at least 56,000 litres of water, which is set up at its Captive Power Plant in Jharsuguda and that will be used within the plant for various purposes. Vedanta has also allied with the state government of Odisha’s Soil Conservation & Watershed Development division to develop 19 farm ponds in various villages of the Lanjigarh region that will help local farmers to irrigate their crops and also commence aquaculture as a collateral livelihood opportunity.

Rahul Sharma, Deputy CEO, Vedanta Aluminium Business, while speaking at the organization’s ongoing water conservation efforts said: "At Vedanta Aluminium Business, all of our business decisions are governed by the core tenets of ‘Zero Harm, Zero Waste and Zero Discharge'. Our vision of water stewardship is rooted in the understanding that water is a shared resource that is crucial to sustaining the ecology and communities around us. Our Water Management Standard outlines structured tracking and monitoring of local water availability, along with the estimation of future changes, and we have put in place a robust water management system that takes into account all of these."

Vedanta Aluminium has a clear-sighted focus on optimizing water consumption across its value-chain and increasing the share of recycled and reused water while conserving freshwater and ensuring maximum recycling and reutilization of water, the company has undertaken incredible steps.