DS Group signature project - ‘Water Economic Zone’, initiated on World Water Day in 2018, that had focus to cover 11,385 hectare area of Udaipur district in Rajasthan, has already treated 5,316 hectare and has created 9.64 Lakh cubic meter of water storage and recharge capacity.
Rajasthan, 21 March 2020
According to the Central Water Commission, India needs a maximum of 3,000 billion cubic metres of water a year while it receives 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain. But the country captures only 8% of its annual rainfall, which is amongst lowest in the world, the scarcity of water has always been an issue.
Dharampal Satyapal Group, known popularly as DS Group, based out of NOIDA, is a water sensitive organization. The Company has made water conservation core to its business philosophy and ethos. Consequently ‘Water Conservation’ is one of the core focus areas in its CSR initiatives.
Water scarcity is a big problem in Rajasthan. It has 13.88% of India’s cultivable area, 5.67% of population and about 11% of country’s livestock. But it has only 1.6% of surface water and 1.70% of ground water. Water conservation projects significantly improve the social and economic conditions in the State.
In Rajasthan, DS Group commissioned its first water conservation project in Sikar in 2013 by constructing a series of check dams in Deepawas village. The Company also developed water conservation projects in Mahoba & Banda in Bundelkhand; Surata in Dungarpur; Karauli; Kurabad & Alsigarh in Udaipur and Deepawas, Mokalwas & Ajeetgarh in Sikar.
Through such efforts, DS Group has been able to save about 20,83,855 cubic meter of water - covering 617 hectares and impacting about 33,000 lives.
DS Group signature project - ‘Water Economic Zone’, initiated on World Water Day in 2018, that had focus to cover 11,385 hectare area of Udaipur district in Rajasthan, has already treated 5,316 hectare and has created 9.64 Lakh cubic meter of water storage and recharge capacity.
The Company is also conscientious about water conservation in its operations. The Company’s headquarter in NOIDA is a facility with Zero Discharge. Investment have been made by Company on 9 recharge pits for water harvesting, R.O plants, Effluent & Sewage Treatment Plants to name a few. The water discharge from the cooling tower, Effluent Treatment Plants & Sewage treatment plants are treated and used for horticulture. The aerators of water taps in the washrooms have been replaced to reduce the water flow rate at 3.18 Litre per Minute (LPM) from 13 Litre per Minute (LPM). All the water closets have been adjusted to reduce water flushing from 9 litres to 7 litres. To minimize water usage, the double flushing of urinals have been changed to single flushing
All other units of the Group also follow the philosophy of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recharge. Water preservation initiatives like roof top rain water harvesting system, recycle and reuse of R.O water and natural recharging pond/pits, have helped save water.
Recycling and reuse strategy allowed DS Group deploy 301,644 KL of water for flushing, gardening and irrigation. About 91,400 KL rain water is collected in ponds and used for irrigation purpose. And, about 15,044 KL rain water is harvested through rain water harvesting pits at headquarters in NOIDA.
According to Central Water Commission’s report, India would reach a population of about 1.66 billion by 2050. The annual food requirement will also exceed 250 million tons. This also means that demand for water will also increase substantially.