Water Consumption in Industries: A Cardinal Approach

The aim of this paper is to propose an index for measuring water consumed by a product during the production process, which avoids some of the shortcomings of the measures currently in use. The information requirement for the new measure is quite limited, permitting practical use. The value provides a reference for an industrial sector to reduce wasteful consumption of water and to achieve desired water efficiency.

The paper has attempted to address the search of a policy maker vis-a-vis a single value which serves as a reference point for efficient consumption of water in any industrial sector. The downward movement in the index depicts a reduction in wasteful usage of water and visa versa. The index is applicable across sectors and takes into account local circumstances. The process of arriving at the index itself promotes and lead to efficient use of water and reduces wasteful consumption, thus conserving water.

Two phases are proposed to arrive at the index. Phase I considers the Water Consumption data of similar units in a sector y of similar geographical and hydrological area x. The data of water consumed by each unit is to be analysed and a leftward shift of each unit to next σ, taking the water consumption of the unit operating at that point as the bench mark. Since, a unit is already operating at that point, replication will be easier and attainable. This leftward shift will ensure that each unit attains higher achievable water efficiency without any technological and capital intervention. The entire sector moving towards point more water use efficient and is a fast way to attain water efficiency in a sector without technological and capital intervention. Therefore, this phase taps the untapped potential of all units for achieving water use efficiency. This may lead to more water conservation than imposing process change. The target reference point (Trp) for the units is to reach the next σ towards the left.

Phase II involves locating the Final target reference point for the sector y in an area x, which should lie between -3σ and -2σ. Why and how to determine the exact point between -3σ and -2σ amidst socio- environmental concern and non-homogeneous nature of production processes is a very challenging task. An intensive study on the units falling between -3σ and -2σ is to be carried out for assessing criteria like total employees supported by the unit, volume of recycled water used, amount spent on the Water conservation and recharge activities taken up by the unit in last six months (CSR activities), water consumption per unit produced, amount of pollutants released by the unit. Based on these factors two matrices are arrived at, when computed the matrices leads to the required index for the sector y in the given geographical area x, which is the reference point for the efficient water consumption for the given product.