RSP lauches new water policy

Surjit Kumar Dhal, Rourkela, August 17: The new Water Policy of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) was released by CEO Dipak Chattaraj here on Friday.

It is worth mentioning here that in line with the ongoing nationwide Jal Shakti Abhiyan, SAIL is observing the month of August as the ‘Water Conservation Month’.

Raj Vir Singh, ED(P&A), Gautam Banerjee, ED(Works), DK Mohapatra, ED(MM) and many other senior officers were present on the occasion.

Water is the most indispensable raw material in the production process of an Integrated Steel Plant like Rourkela Steel Plant.

Keeping in view its importance and its growing scarcity, the Plant has been making consistent efforts to reduce the consumption of water in its various units and eliminate wastage.

As a result of this the Specific Water Consumption of the Steel Plant has come down from 5.13 Cubic Metres per tonne of Crude Steel in 2008-09 to 3.65 Cubic Metres per tonne of Crude Steel in 2018-19.

Notably, the revised target of CREP (Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection) is 4.8  cubic metres per tonne of Crude Steel  for flat product steel plants.

The Steel Plant is now targeting at achieving Specific Water Conservation of 2 Cubic Metres per tonne of Crude Steel, which is the international benchmark by implementing a Zero Liquid Discharge Project.

The project envisages recycling and reusing the entire amount of water that the Plant consumes.

A multi- dimensional approach is being adopted to achieve this objective. In this direction, to start with the entire amount of input water for the upcoming New Hot Strip Mill will be sourced from the lagoon and there will be zero discharge thereafter. M/s MECON Limited, Ranchi has been engaged as a consultant for gainfully utilizing the treated water back in the Steel Plant.

Plans are also afoot to recycle and re-use 30 MLD (Million Litre/Day) Township sewage water as plant make-up water by setting up a sewage treatment plant in the township and supplying treated water for use in the plant.

Besides a number of initiatives are being taken on a regular basis to conserve water. Rain water harvesting systems have also been installed in various parts of the Plant and the township to recharge the ground water table.  Fixing of float valves in overhead storage tanks of township quarters is also in progress to check overflowing of water.