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SAVING WATER
/ WATER FOR INDUSTRY
source: www.unesco.org/water/
wwap/wwdr/pdf/chap9.pdf
www.siwi.org/downloads/WWW
-Symp/UNEP%20FI%20Water%20Scarcity
%20Full%20Report%20Rev.pdf
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It is difficult to imagine any type of industry in which water is not used - as an ingredient of the product itself, for heating or cooling, or as part of the manufacturing and cleaning process…- water for industrial use represents approximately 22% of total global freshwater use. In general, industrial use of water increases with country income, representing 59% of total water use in high-income countries but only 8% for low-income countries; (1)
- some 20% of the world’s freshwater abstraction is currently used by industry, corresponding to about 45 litres per day per person;
- one consequence of trade liberalisation and the globalisation of industry has been the migration of manufacturing industries from high-income countries to lower-income countries, sometimes by the simple relocation of production plant. Water-intensive industries, such as textiles, originally located to take advantage of abundant and well-managed water supplies, may now find themselves relocated to communities where they compete for scarce or underdeveloped water supplies;
- the World Water Resources and Their Use database forecasts that the annual water volume used by industry will rise from 752 cubic kilometres (km3)/year in 1995 to an estimated 1,170 km3/year in 2025, at which time the industrial component is expected to represent about 24% of total freshwater withdrawal.
The volumes of industrial water withdrawal vary depending on the type of industry, the different kinds of production, and the technology used in the industrial process… - even in high tech industries, where mistakenly perceived as being ‘clean’ industry, the sector is one of the most water-dependent and water-damaging sectors. Each 300 mm silicon wafer (computer) chip produced requires 8,622 litres of de-ionised freshwater. In Santa Clara, California, the electronics industry used about 24% of city’s water between 1994 and 1995; (2)
- water also plays an increasing role as a supplier of energy. In the second half of the 20th century about 40,000 large dams were built throughout the world. About one-fifth of the world’s electricity requirement is now covered by hydropower. In countries like Brazil and Norway, up to 90% of the electricity is supplied by hydropower. Effluents from thermal and atomic power generators are quite harmful to the environment, due to chemical and thermal pollution;
- in addition to water consumption, industrial water use is one of the main causes of water pollution in the world. Although pathogens are still a primary cause of disease in developing countries, chemical pollution from industries is a major cause for concern. Some 300-500 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other wastes accumulate each year from industry. In developing countries, close to 70% of all industrial waste is dumped untreated into waters where it pollutes the usable water supply;
- information on the industrial degradation of water quality is given by the emissions of organic water pollutants; comparison of data for 1980 and 1996 indicating that while BOD loadings for high-income countries have been reduced, those in middle- and low-income have risen substantially; (3)
- inevitably, those industries based on organic raw materials are consistently the most significant contributors to the organic pollutant load with the food & beverages sector the most important polluter. For example, the food sector produces 40% of total organic water pollutants in developed countries and 54% in developing countries. Wood-based industries, including pulp and paper, and textiles are also important contributors;
- the direct discharge of contaminants into water bodies is not the only vector by which industry degrades water quality at a global scale. Many of the chemicals and compounds discharged by industry as gaseous emissions have the potential for long-range transport, dispersal and deposition. This mechanism is recognised as an important factor in the degradation of fresh and marine waters in non-industrial regions and has stimulated a variety of multinational environmental agreements such as the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
(1) World Development Indicators Report, World Bank, 2001.
(2) “Challenges of Water Scarcity. A Business Case for Financial Institutions”, commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), 2004. [ www.siwi.org]
(3) BOD: Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
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