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Water Management

Water Sustainability Performance Highlights

Access to clean and safe water is recognized as a fundamental human right and aligns with the United Nation's Sustainable Development SGD12, which aims for achievement by 2030.

As a socially responsible corporate entity, we are committed to ensuring that our operations do not compromise the quality or availability of water resources for any aspect of the ecosystem and society. At UPL, we are committed to proactively identifying and addressing water-related risks, enhancing the resilience of our business operations. Our water resources encompass groundwater, surface water, rainwater, and municipal supplies, and we steadfastly prioritize stakeholder-centric approaches in our water management strategies.

Through collaboration with farmers, we contribute to reducing the global freshwater footprint across agricultural lands. In compliance with regulatory standards, we discharge treated effluent into the deep sea, rivers, and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs). Notably, 44% of our facilities are in water- stressed regions, underscoring the importance we place on addressing water scarcity challenges.

In terms of water consumption, we have utilized 2690704.04 KL, withdrawn 3783743.32 KL, and discharged 1093039.27 KL from water-stressed regions. These figures demonstrate our commitment to water stewardship in regions grappling with water scarcity issues.

Our water management strategy

Identification of water-related risks

  • Conduct periodic verification of water-related risks at our manufacturing locations.
  • This exercise is conducted as per a water risk analysis and as per WRI Aqueduct.
  • Periodic internal/external audits to find the root cause of excess water demand.

Mapping progress towards established goals

  • Reduce 20% of specific water consumption* by 2025.
  • Enhance focus towards a reduction in our operational water footprint.
  • Develop innovative products that enable water conservation at farms.
  • Ensure effluent discharge quality is as per regulatory requirements

UPL's approach to reduce our water footprint

  • Rainwater harvesting to reduce abstracted water demand. Recycling and reuse of green effluent stream Forward Osmosis technology for effluent recycling.
  • Scale-Ban technology to reduce cooling tower water demand. Develop controlled discharge facilities for effective surface run-off management. Implementation of effluent segregation practice and stream wise treatment. Waste-water recycling and reuse to achieve zero liquild discharge by using energy & space efficient waste-water treatment technologies.
  • Recovery of valuable material (e.g., product, byproduct) from effluent stream.

Our water management strategy

Identification of water-related risks

  • Conduct periodic verification of water-related risks at our manufacturing locations.
  • This exercise is conducted as per a water risk analysis and as per WRI Aqueduct.
  • Periodic internal/external audits to find the root cause of excess water demand.

Mapping progress towards established goals

  • Reduce 20% of specific water consumption* by 2025.
  • Enhance focus towards a reduction in our operational water footprint.
  • Develop innovative products that enable water conservation at farms.
  • Ensure effluent discharge quality is as per regulatory requirements

UPL's approach to reduce our water footprint

  • Rainwater harvesting to reduce abstracted water demand. Recycling and reuse of green effluent stream Forward Osmosis technology for effluent recycling.
  • Scale-Ban technology to reduce cooling tower water demand. Develop controlled discharge facilities for effective surface run-off management. Implementation of effluent segregation practice and stream wise treatment. Waste-water recycling and reuse to achieve zero liquild discharge by using energy & space efficient waste-water treatment technologies.
  • Recovery of valuable material (e.g., product, byproduct) from effluent stream.

Green cell: Greening the Innovation

At UPL, we understand the pivotal role of responsible water management in achieving sustainable development goals and securing a better future for generations to come. As part of our dedication to environmental stewardship, we have been at the forefront of driving innovation in water management practices. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and maintaining unwavering commitment, we have successfully implemented a range of innovative solutions across our manufacturing plants. Here are some of the transformative technological advancements and initiatives that UPL has embraced in recent years, including the financial year 2023-2024. These innovations have been instrumental in revolutionizing our approach to water management:

Championing Water Security: UPL’s Partnership with WBCSD and UN Global Compact

UPL has collaborated with World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in striving to eliminate wastewater pollution by 2030. As one of the three global companies collaborating with WBCSD, we actively support initiatives for enhancing water security. Additionally, we actively support the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate as part of our steadfast commitment to address global water security challenges.

Logo Logo
Name of Initiative Nature of saving (Technology upgradation/Process modification/Material consumption)
Developed and implemented a process for treating Metolachlor wastewater with reduced cost and environment footprint. Process modification
A process for treating MonoCrotoPhos (MCP) effluent with reduced cost and environment footprint. Process modification
Reduction of NH3-N without the aid of chemicals in ETP bioreactors by changing process parameters Process modification
Installation of compressor-free aerators and Turbo Mixer ETP bioreactors Technology upgradation
Through various innovative ideas implementation for wastewater treatment, overall a cost saving of ~10 Crores INR was achieved Process modification/ Material consumption

Initiatives for water management

Jhagadia, Gujarat

At our largest technical manufacturing plant Unit 05 at Jhagadia, Gujarat,
  • We were able to recover and utilize condensate water. The condensate water replaced soft water in couple of our processes. This helped us to reduce 100 KL of freshwater consumption per day & reduction in effluent generation by 5 KL per day.
  • 650 KL per day MEE plant reduced 25 KL per day water by utilizing process steam condensate for ATFD flushing purpose.

Barranquilla, Colombia

  • A continuous wastewater stream coming from one of product which was sent to effluent treatment. After detailed analysis, it was identified that this type of wastewater, had the capacity to be reused in one of our processes for slurry preparation process. This helped us to eliminate the freshwater consumption by 30 KL per day and also reduce our wastewater generation.
  • At Barranquilla, Colombia, our vertical garden in the utilities building has 760 m2 of green area. As part of maintenance activities, consumption of 300 KL of fresh water per month was necessary to keep garden irrigated. Post irrigation, drained water was going to wastewater system. Our initiative was to construct a collection tank to collect discharged water and post filtration, pump it back to vertical garden. It allowed us to save freshwater and reduce wastewater generation. During the reporting year around 2355.2 KL of water was saved.

Sustainable Water Usage: Withdrawal, Discharge, and Consumption

Water withdrawal (KL)

Water withdrawal by source UPL Global (A+B) UPL India Manufacturing (SAS & Specialty Chemicals) (A) UPL Corporation Ltd. (B) Water stress regions
Surface water 7082 0 7082 5480
Groundwater 66623.73 41687.19 24936.54 50619.19
Supply water (Municipality) 4353228.10 3994275.92 358952.18 3709132.12
Rainwater 22298.80 22298 0.8 18512
Total 4449232.63 4058261.11 390971.53 3783743.32

Water discharge (KL) – post tertiary treatment

Water discharge by destination UPL Global (A+B) UPL India Manufacturing (SAS & Specialty Chemicals) (A) UPL Corporation Ltd. (B) Water stress regions
Surface water 184553.71 302.67 184251.04 5171.28
Seawater 1084666 1084666 0 1084666
Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) 216080.57 150073.87 66006.70 3202
Total 1485300.28 1235042.54 250257.74 1093039.27

Water consumption (KL)

Water Consumption UPL Global (A+B) UPL India Manufacturing (SAS & Specialty Chemicals) (A) UPL Corporation Ltd. (B) Water stress regions
Total 2963932.35 2823218.57 140713.79 2690704.04

DISCLAIMER

“UPL and its subsidiaries have made every attempt to ensure accuracy of the information provided on this website. However, this is a global webpage with access to different geographies for wider reach and greater awareness of UPL. In the course of doing the same, UPL has used Weglot translator plugin to cover the language of this website from English to select regional languages.

UPL therefore, does not accept any responsibility or liability on the nature, standard or the accuracy of the translation and cannot take responsibility for any type of inaccurate contextual meaning in the event of a mismatch from English to a regional language.”

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