Recognising that water is a precious
resource, all ITC Units are required by policy to constantly attempt to minimise water
consumption through conservation and recycling. Towards this end, effluent discharge is
appropriately treated and re-used or recycled.
ITC's total fresh water intake in 2002-03
was 24.1 million kilolitres. Approximately 63% of this was resultant wastewater. After
suitable treatment, around 3% of this wastewater was reused within the Units for
gardening, cooling and cleaning purposes. With an additional 71% of treated water used for
irrigation, the final discharge amounted to just 26% of the total wastewater generated. In
the pulp and paperboard business, which accounts for 92.5% of ITC's total fresh water
intake, the objective is to use 100% of the treated
wastewater for irrigation. ITC attempts to
reach zero discharge in its other businesses.
ITC endeavours to maximise generation of
water supply through rainwater harvesting in a number of its operating Units. In 2002-03,
ITC created a total rainwater harvesting capacity of over 12.75 million kilolitres. As
against this, the Company's operations incurred a net actual consumption of only 9.5
million kilolitres during the year.
