Press Releases

World Water Week: Vedanta dedicates revived ponds & borewells to Jharsuguda community

• World Water Week Celebration: 16 community ponds & 14 borewells have been cleaned and revamped across 4 Gram Panchayats, benefitting 3,000 people

Jharsuguda, Odisha; 26^th August 2021: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, has dedicated 16 community ponds and 14 borewells in Katikela, Dalki, Parmanpur and Badmal Gram Panchayats (GP) of Jharsuguda region, to ensure post-monsoon water availability for households, agriculture, and livestock. The company worked with local communities to carry out deep cleaning of the ponds for ground water recharge and rainwater harvesting, and repair of handpumps. This crucial eco-system restoration process will prevent further deterioration of these local water resources, and ensure water availability for nearly 3,000 people. Vedanta has also constructed changing rooms for bathers near all the ponds, and put-up information materials on cleanliness and personal hygiene to sensitize people on various health issues.

Dedicating the ponds to community, Mr. Deepak Prasad, Dy. CEO – Vedanta Limited, Jharsuguda, said, “Water is a critical shared resource, we have a hawkeyed focus on water conservation at and beyond our operations. In our mission of becoming a ‘Zero Harm, Zero Waste and Zero Discharge’ operation, we undertake tracking and monitoring of local water availability, along with estimation of future changes, and we have put in place a robust water management system that takes into account water’s criticality to sustaining the ecology and communities around us.”

Supriya Pandey, ward member of Purna village, Dalki Gram Panchayat, adds, “We are thankful to Vedanta for cleaning our village pond, which will benefit the 500-600 residents of the village. The changing room they have developed for bathers is also very helpful from a privacy perspective, as both men and women bathe at the pond.”

Vedanta Jharsuguda has undertaken robust measures to optimize water consumption across its value-chain and increase the share of recycled and reused water, such as:

• Water-screening assessment to develop and implement stringent control measures to ensure zero discharge operations.
• Integration of water management into decision-making processes for all projects.
• Continuous and online monitoring of water quality parameters, including reduction of specific water consumption.
• Regular water consumption related audits, and appropriate measures to ensure continually improved performance.
• Water monitoring and control through SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system.
• Optimization of freshwater intake by maximizing usage of water recycled through state-of-the-art Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP), augmented with Ultra Filtration (UF), and Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Multi Evaporation Systems (MES).
• On-site water reservoirs have been created for water sourcing during contingency scenarios.
• Quick Response Teams to respond to extreme weather conditions, including unprecedented heavy rainfall.
• Aiding district administration in supplying drinking water to peripheral communities during summer months.
• Helped farmers in the community adopt drip-irrigation, treadle pump, solar powered water pumps, rainwater harvesting structures like percolation tanks, etc. to boost irrigation potential and reduce dependency on monsoons for cropping.
• Built several water-related community infrastructures like tube wells, bore wells, ponds, percolation tanks, etc. to help communities access water for household and irrigation purposes.

Vedanta is India’s largest producer of the green metal, aluminium, operating a world-class 1.6 MTPA aluminium smelter and 3615 MW thermal power generation facility in Jharsuguda, Odisha. The only Indian smelter in the global ‘1 Million Tonne’ production and export club, Vedanta Jharsuguda is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications across core industries. With its state-of-the-art facilities, unparalleled engineering prowess, R&D and innovation abilities, Vedanta Jharsuguda is working towards a sustainable and greener future for all by spurring emerging applications of aluminium, the ‘Metal of the Future’.