conservation of Water Resources

Mar 21, 2022 | Business


Water being a State subject, it is the responsibility of States/UTs and local bodies to ensure required treatment of sewage and industrial effluent before discharging into recipient water bodies or land for prevention and control of pollution therein.




Government of India supplements efforts of the States/UTs by providing financial and technical assistance in abatement of pollution including protection of water resources in the country through various central sector schemes for development of infrastructure for environmentally sound management of generated municipal sewage, industrial effluent and wastes apart from specific schemes such as National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for rejuvenation of polluted rivers, National Lake Conservation Plan for restoration of stagnant water bodies, National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP), AMRUT.




Government of India (GoI), with an aim to prevent water pollution, promulgated Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and various Acts under the umbrella act called ‘Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.  As per the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution), Act 1974, industrial units are required to install Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and treat their effluents to comply with stipulated environmental standards before discharging into river and water bodies. Accordingly, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) in the States or Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in Union Territories, monitor industries with respect to effluent discharge standards and take action for non-compliance under provisions empowered under these Acts.




Further, as per the information received from SPCBs/PCCs (including Tamil Nadu SPCB), there are 2,839 Grossly Polluting Industries in the country. Out of these 2,839 industries, 2,186 industries are operational and 653 industries are self-closed. Number of complying and non-complying units are 2,055 and 131 respectively. Show cause notices have been issued to 55 units and closure directions have been issued to 56 units for non-compliance. State-wise status of GPI units in the country is at Annexure-I.




Assessment with regard to the quantum of water being rendered unfit for use every year due to industrial pollution is not carried out by CPCB. However, based on water quality monitoring carried out under National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP), considering Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) as criteria pollutant, in the year 2018, CPCB identified 351 polluted river stretches on 323 rivers on basis of two years’ data of 2016 & 2017 (Annexure – II).




This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written      reply in Lok Sabha today.


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BY/AS




ANNEXURE-I


Compliance Status of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs)












































SPCB/PCC

Total no. of industries

No. of industries closed  by their own

No. of industries operational

No. of industries complying with environmental standards

No. of industries non-complying with environmental standards

No. of industries against which action is  taken for non-complying with environmental standards

Show cause notice issued

Closure directions issued

Legal cases filed

Action under process

Andaman & Nicobar

2

2

1

1

1

Andhra Pradesh

66

11

55

50

5

2

1

2

Arunachal Pradesh

97

8

89

63

26

3

23

Assam








Bihar

84

34

50

50




Chandigarh








Chhattisgarh

2

2

1

1

1

Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli








Delhi

3

3

3




Goa








Gujarat

25

1

24

20

4

3

1

Haryana

627

27

600

594

6

6

Himachal Pradesh








Jammu & Kashmir

69

69

66

3

3


Jharkhand

45

6

39

5

34

14

10

2

8

Karnataka

4

4

4




Kerala

29

1

28

27

1

1

Lakshadweep








Madhya Pradesh

2

2

2




Maharashtra

4

1

3

3




Manipur








Meghalaya

2

2

2




Mizoram








Nagaland








Odisha

6

6

6




Puducherry

3

3

3




Punjab

5

5

4

1

1


Rajasthan

1

1

1




Sikkim








Tamil Nadu








Telangana

3

1

2

2




Tripura








Uttar Pradesh

1,648

560

1,088

1,047

41

22

13

6

Uttarakhand

64

64

60

4

4


West Bengal

48

3

45

41

4

3

1

Total

2,839

653

2,186

2,055

131

55

56

2

18






ANNEXURE-II




State-wise & Priority wise number of Polluted River Stretches






































S. No.

STATE/UNION TERRITORY

PRIORITY

Grand Total

I

II

III

IV

V

1

ANDHRA PRADESH

–

–

–

2

3

5

2

ASSAM

3

1

4

3

33

44

3

BIHAR

–

–

1

–

5

6

4

CHHATTISGARH

–

–

–

4

1

5

5

DAMAN, DIU AND DADRA NAGAR HAVELI

1

–

–

–

–

1

6

DELHI

1

–

–

–

–

1

7

GOA

–

–

1

2

8

11

8

GUJARAT

5

1

2

6

6

20

9

HARYANA

2

–

–

–

–

2

10

HIMACHAL PRADESH

1

1

1

–

4

7

11

JAMMU & KASHMIR

–

1

2

2

4

9

12

JHARKHAND

–

–

–

3

4

7

13

KARNATAKA

–

–

4

7

6

17

14

KERALA

1

–

–

5

15

21

15

MADHYA PRADESH

3

1

1

3

14

22

16

MAHARASHTRA

9

6

14

10

14

53

17

MANIPUR

–

1

–

–

8

9

18

MEGHALAYA

2

–

–

3

2

7

19

MIZORAM

–

–

1

3

5

9

20

NAGALAND

1

–

1

2

2

6

21

ODISHA

1

–

3

2

13

19

22

PUDUCHERRY

–

–

–

1

1

2

23

PUNJAB

2

–

–

1

1

4

24

RAJASTHAN

–

–

1

–

1

2

25

SIKKIM

–

–

–

–

4

4

26

TAMIL NADU

4

–

–

1

1

6

27

TELANGANA

1

2

2

2

1

8

28

TRIPURA

–

–

–

–

6

6

29

UTTAR PRADESH

4

–

1

2

5

12

30

UTTARAKHAND

3

1

1

4

–

9

31

WEST BENGAL

1

1

3

4

8

17

Grand Total

45

16

43

72

175

351


 ****








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MHI Thermal Systems Receives “The Energy Conservation Center, Japan Chairman’s Award” at the 2021 Energy Conservation Grand Prize

Dec 23, 2021 | Business

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems, Ltd. (MHI Thermal Systems), a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has won the Energy Conservation Center, Japan Chairman’s Award in “Best Practice Category” at the 2021 Energy Conservation Grand Prize sponsored by the Energy Conservation Center, Japan (ECCJ), with support from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). This award was presented for measures relating to energy savings from a factory heating and cooling system utilizing an aquifer(1) thermal energy storage (ATES) system. The use of underground water stored in aquifers as a source of heat for heating and cooling systems is highly regarded for its energy conservation potential, environmental performance, and other benefits. This is the first time MHI Thermal Systems has received an award in Best Practices Category.
The initiative recognized with this reward is the introduction of an ATES system that takes advantage of the unutilized energy of 700kw in geothermal heat for the heating and cooling system at the MHI Thermal Systems Kobe Works, located on the grounds of the MHI Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works in Hyogo Prefecture. This system provides efficient use of energy by allowing for the cyclical use of heat across seasons, utilizing the cold exhaust from heating during the wintertime for air conditioning during the summer, and warm exhaust from air conditioning during the summertime for heating during the winter. In addition, the reduction in heat emissions into the atmosphere, an underground heat balance of zero for the full year period, and other benefits, contribute to cutting CO2 emissions, alleviating the heat island effect, and preventing global warming.

Additional energy‐saving measures adopted for the ATES system include the use of a high-performance inverter centrifugal heat pump(2) with low-GWP(3) refrigerant, adoption of an optimal control system, introduction of visualization systems to assess energy usage and heat source well performance, and utilization of initial year operating data for long-term operation from the second year and beyond. As a result, compared to a gas absorption cold/hot water heater with similar capacity, this system provides a reduction in annual primary energy consumption equivalent to 46.5kL in crude oil per annum (reduction rate of 49.9%), and CO2 reductions of 109.1 tonnes per annum (reduction rate of 65.3%).

The ECCJ Energy Conservation Grand Prize were established in 2011 to raise awareness of energy conservation, promote related activities and initiatives, and contribute to the widespread adoption of energy-efficient products and practices. The annual awards program recognizes outstanding energy-saving initiatives at businesses or workplaces that serve as examples for other companies, or outstanding energy-saving products and business models.

MHI Thermal Systems, encouraged by this award, will continue to develop technologies and products that further contribute to energy conservation. In addition, by drawing on the collective technological capabilities realized through synergies generated from its wide-ranging business domain, including the thermal engineering business to enhance energy efficiency in many types of production plants, the large-scale refrigerator business for cooling large spaces, and the air conditioning business to create a wide range of comfortable spaces, as well as the transport refrigerating systems business essential to cold chains, and the automotive air-conditioning business, MHI Thermal Systems will focus on achieving optimal thermal solutions to meet the varied needs of customers.

(1) An aquifer is an underground layer composed of gravel or other materials. Because the groundwater stored in this layer is cooler than the ambient temperature in summer and warmer in winter, it is considered unutilized temperature difference energy with high utility value as a heat source.
(2) The use of warm water specifications based on the ETI-Z Series of centrifugal chillers for air conditioners manufactured by MHI Thermal Systems allows for switching between heating and cooling modes. See the following press release for more information on the ETI-Z Series.
https://www.mhi.com/news/1506101900.html
(3) Global Warming Potential (GWP) is a coefficient, with CO2 fixed at a GWP of 1.0. Smaller values indicate greater environmental performance.






Topic: Press release summary

Heritage Conservation in Indian Railways

Mar 24, 2021 | Business, Travel

Detailed guidelines have been issued for heritage conservation covering maintenance of Steam Locomotives, up-keep of Hill Railways, promotion of Hill and Steam tourism, strengthening Railway Museums, conservation of buildings, artefacts, digitization and online dissemination of Railway Heritage etc.

There are 21 Rail Museums, 16 Heritage Galleries and 9 Heritage parks on Indian Railways.

There are five Hill Railways namely Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR), Matheran Light Railway (MLR) and Kangra Valley Railway (KVR). Out of these, three Hill Railways namely DHR, KSR and NMR have been declared as World Heritage sites by UNESCO.

Four Hill Railways namely DHR, KSR, NMR and MLR have been identified for monetisation. As outsourcing has not been done at this stage, details are not available.

This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.