Page 3 - Water Neutral Electricity Production in India: Avoiding the Unmanageable
P. 3
TERI Policy Brief
supply to the poor that do not have proper water supply’.3 in water quality, while ensuring water availability for
It has two aspects attached to it. First and foremost is to future demand scenarios, from both power plant as
reduce the water footprint of the operations, product, well as other competing users in the region. Moreover,
etc. Second is to offset the residual water footprint. This Integrated Watershed Management approach has the
approach or concept can be applied at variety of contexts, potential to make the electricity production (near)
and with the growing water crisis it becomes imperative water neutral, while also striking goodwill with the local
for all water intensive users like power plants to offset communities and adding to the fulfillment of corporate
their water consumption by giving back to the system social responsibility. Thus, power plants need to adopt
through different modes. ‘Water neutral’ generally does a wider approach and push themselves beyond their
not mean that water use is brought down to zero, but own boundaries, taking care of the local watershed to
that the negative economic, social and environmental ensure not only their own sustainable operations but
externalities are reduced as much as possible and that overall ecological balance of the system and other
the remaining impacts are fully compensated. In case competing users.
of thermal power plants, efforts to reduce the specific
water consumption by plant level management will help Techno-process modifications Changes in
to achieve (partially) only the first aspect of the concept technology and /
of water neutrality. The second aspect of off-setting
the water usage requires power plants to look beyond or operations
their boundaries and implement/undertake the potential
strategies to reduce water stress in the watershed from Water Regeneration Waste Water
where water is sourced. These strategies should be able Recycling
to conserve water, enhance the water availability of the
area and return back the equivalent amount of residual
water to the system.
“A business is water neutral when every resasonable ef- Water Demand Management Demand Management
fort has been undertaken to reduce the company’s water for other sectors in
footprint and when the firm takes measures to offset or watershed
compensate for the adverse social and environmental
consequences of its residual water footprint.” Policy Analysis
Integrated Watershed Management: Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
An approach to water neutrality (MoEF&CC), Government of India has laid out several
policies and guidelines for the establishment of power
Water availability in a water body is the function of plants in India. All the thermal power plants are
characteristics of the watershed surrounding it. Hence, required to seek prior Environmental Clearance before
it is necessary to manage the watershed surrounding starting the construction or looking for expansion and
the source of water, to ensure the continuity of water modernization. Environmental Impact Assessment
availability for power plant operations. Integrated (EIA) is a necessary component of the environmental
watershed management refers to the management Clearance process and all the thermal power plants with
of human activities and natural resources across the a capacity of 5MW are mandatorily required to conduct
hydrological boundary surrounding the water source. EIA. However, environmental clearance is provided by
It considers the watershed wide water availability and central government for Category A projects (>500
its demand from various sectors holistically, and refers MW) and state level authorities for Category B1 projects
to the measures like water demand management in the (>5MW). Conducting EIA is not mandatory for B2
watershed, rainwater harvesting, artificial groundwater projects (≤5MW), mainly set up as captive power plants
recharge etc. This approach also leads to improvement by some industries.
3 http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/Waterneutrality.pdf
DECEMBER 2016 3
supply to the poor that do not have proper water supply’.3 in water quality, while ensuring water availability for
It has two aspects attached to it. First and foremost is to future demand scenarios, from both power plant as
reduce the water footprint of the operations, product, well as other competing users in the region. Moreover,
etc. Second is to offset the residual water footprint. This Integrated Watershed Management approach has the
approach or concept can be applied at variety of contexts, potential to make the electricity production (near)
and with the growing water crisis it becomes imperative water neutral, while also striking goodwill with the local
for all water intensive users like power plants to offset communities and adding to the fulfillment of corporate
their water consumption by giving back to the system social responsibility. Thus, power plants need to adopt
through different modes. ‘Water neutral’ generally does a wider approach and push themselves beyond their
not mean that water use is brought down to zero, but own boundaries, taking care of the local watershed to
that the negative economic, social and environmental ensure not only their own sustainable operations but
externalities are reduced as much as possible and that overall ecological balance of the system and other
the remaining impacts are fully compensated. In case competing users.
of thermal power plants, efforts to reduce the specific
water consumption by plant level management will help Techno-process modifications Changes in
to achieve (partially) only the first aspect of the concept technology and /
of water neutrality. The second aspect of off-setting
the water usage requires power plants to look beyond or operations
their boundaries and implement/undertake the potential
strategies to reduce water stress in the watershed from Water Regeneration Waste Water
where water is sourced. These strategies should be able Recycling
to conserve water, enhance the water availability of the
area and return back the equivalent amount of residual
water to the system.
“A business is water neutral when every resasonable ef- Water Demand Management Demand Management
fort has been undertaken to reduce the company’s water for other sectors in
footprint and when the firm takes measures to offset or watershed
compensate for the adverse social and environmental
consequences of its residual water footprint.” Policy Analysis
Integrated Watershed Management: Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
An approach to water neutrality (MoEF&CC), Government of India has laid out several
policies and guidelines for the establishment of power
Water availability in a water body is the function of plants in India. All the thermal power plants are
characteristics of the watershed surrounding it. Hence, required to seek prior Environmental Clearance before
it is necessary to manage the watershed surrounding starting the construction or looking for expansion and
the source of water, to ensure the continuity of water modernization. Environmental Impact Assessment
availability for power plant operations. Integrated (EIA) is a necessary component of the environmental
watershed management refers to the management Clearance process and all the thermal power plants with
of human activities and natural resources across the a capacity of 5MW are mandatorily required to conduct
hydrological boundary surrounding the water source. EIA. However, environmental clearance is provided by
It considers the watershed wide water availability and central government for Category A projects (>500
its demand from various sectors holistically, and refers MW) and state level authorities for Category B1 projects
to the measures like water demand management in the (>5MW). Conducting EIA is not mandatory for B2
watershed, rainwater harvesting, artificial groundwater projects (≤5MW), mainly set up as captive power plants
recharge etc. This approach also leads to improvement by some industries.
3 http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/Waterneutrality.pdf
DECEMBER 2016 3
