Water scarcity affects business of 60% Indian companies: Survey

NEW DELHI: An overwhelming majority of Indian companies consider water scarcity an increasing business risk, prompting them to conserve the commodity, a survey has revealed.

As many as 83% respondents identified inadequate availability of water as a major risk to their business, in a survey of 27 major industrial sectors conducted by the US-based Columbia Water Center in association with industry lobby FICCI. While 60% respondents said inadequate availability of water was already impacting their business, 87% said the scarcity would impact their business 10 years down the line.

The respondents - from sectors such as infrastructure, textiles, energy, oil and gas, retail, pharmaceuticals, information technology and health services - also raised issues related to allocation, regulatory framework and pricing.

Thermal power plants, which are among the highest consumers of water, stand at a greater risk with their cost of water transportation rising due to depleting sources. Water needs to be transported through pipelines over distances as much as 100 km in some cases, necessitating additional expenditure.

"Water is scarce and in coming days it shall be more so," said the official spokesperson of power producer NTPC, "Transportation of water does not put stress on revenues but leads to more expenditure on fixed cost amounting to higher tariff."

Business risk is posed by two types of water scarcity being faced by the country, said Manoj KM Chaturvedi, Hindustan Construction Company's deputy general manager-CSR. "Physical scarcity, where there is not enough water to meet demand; and economic scarcity, where communities lack the infrastructure and/or financial capacity to access the water they need," he said.

Most respondents also raised concerns over poor water quality and said the lack of regulatory and policy framework will have a bearing on their functioning in the coming years.

"The root cause is the lack of policies," said a senior official with GAIL. "There is no standardised data for industry consumption patterns. The policies are not so effective, the technology obsolete and sometimes they are not bothered about the implementation of the rules."

Romit Sen, senior assistant director with FICCI's water division, said: "Efforts for water conservation have to be a mix of efforts to improve process efficiency, where water consumption in the industrial process is brought down through a mix of technology and plugging leakages within the system."