Water is the Achilles heel of the Indian pulp and paper industry. Most of its challenges end up with its inefficient use of water. There is no doubt that the world over, this industry is the largest industrial user of water. But globally, industries have worked to minimise water demand by reusing and recycling their waste. This is not the case in India. The specific water consumption (water consumed to produce one tonne paper) in Indian mills is four to six times higher than their counterparts in the industrialised world. The water consumption of Indian mills is so high that it is not surprising to find that mills are invariably located near a river. The uptake from the river is massive; equally massive is the waste discharged downstream. The daily fresh water requirement of a 0.1 million tonne integrated pulp and paper mill in India is as high as the daily water requirement of 0.3-0.5 million individuals, even if we assume a high rate of individual water use of 160 litres per day.

But, thankfully, the trends are changing.

Water use
Water consumption has come down significantly in large-scale Indian paper mills. In 1998, on an average, these consumed 200 tonnes of water to produce one tonne of paper; this reduced, by 2002, to 135 tonne per tonne paper. Even so, a very high level, considering that the average in US and European mills is less than 50 tonnes.

There is a significant difference in water consumption between Indian mills as well. The worst performers, West Coast Paper Mills in Dandeli, Karnataka, Rajmudary-based Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills and Yamunanagar-based Shree Gopal Unit of Ballarpur Industries Ltd still consume more than 200 tonnes water to produce one tonne of paper. In contrast, Orissa-based JK Paper Mills and Tamil Nadu Newsprint and papers, located in Karur district of Tamil Nadu, consume just about 100 tonnes water for each tonne of product produced. Still, these mills use two-three times more water than the global best practice (see graph: Great guzzlers).

The least water consuming plant in India is BILT Graphics, which uses as little as 25 tonnes of water for each tonne of its product. But since this is a non-integrated paper mill