Water Shortage Proves to be Growing Threat for India's Steelmakers

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With drought having devastated swathes of India's major agricultural regions, a looming water shortage is forcing state-owned steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) (Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh) to consider investing $170 million to create reservoirs that would meet the water supply problem.

In a presentation to the Steel Ministry, the company claimed that the state government had not supplied the volume of water for which it was contracted. Although present demand is "getting managed," RINL representatives said that a a threat still exists.

The problem will become more pressing as the plant's annual production capacity expands to 6.3 million tons, from the current 2.3 million tons, over the next 12 months. RINL said that either a water desalination project or the reservoir project is inevitable.

RINL has not provided details on its current water needs or on the increased needs that will develop upon completion of the expansion.

A 2011 study by the World Steel Association reported that the average consumption and discharge of water for integrated steel making is 28.6 cubic meters and 25.3 cubic meters, respectively, per ton of steel produced.

RINL is only one of a number of Indian steelmakers that are unhappy with the future of water supplies. The company has been experiencing water scarcity since 2002, but has never shut down due to water shortage. NIPL has overcome the problem by adopting prudent water conservation measures.

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