Lok Sabha Question No. 355 (STARRED), answered on 2015-12-23
Subject: Consumption of Water by Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR, RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 355 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.12.2015

## CONSUMPTION OF WATER BY RAILWAYS

* 355. SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI RAHUL SHEWALE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Railways  is  planning  to  formulate  a  policy  for  using water more efficiently in its premises and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Railways has signed a MoU with the Ministry of Water Resources in this regard and if so, the details thereof and the salient features thereof;
- (c)  the  time  by  which  the  work  on the  project  is  likely  to  be  started and the extent to which the railways is likely to be able to curtail their fresh water consumption and expenditure thereon;
- (d) the number of existing water recycling plants  set up in different railway stations along with the measures taken by the Government to set up more water recycling plants in railway stations; and
- (e)  whether  the  Railways  has  also  taken  up  Rain  Water  Harvesting projects and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

( SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU )

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 355 BY SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR AND SHRI RAHUL  SHEWALE  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  23.12.2015 REGARDING CONSUMPTION OF WATER BY RAILWAYS

(a)  to  (e)  Water  is  mainly  used  at  Railway  stations,  workshops, washing  lines  and    Railway  colonies,  etc.  Railways'  endeavor  is  to have optimum and economical utilization of water.

For optimum and economical utilization of water, all the zonal railways and production units have been advised in December 2014 to conduct water  audit  of  main  water  consumption  centres.  Railways  have identified 152 main water consumption centres for water audit during the  year  2015-16,  so  far  water  audit  have  been  completed  at  23 locations.

For efficient use of water, Railway is also setting up Water Recycling Plants at such   locations where water is scarce and provision of the same is economically justified. So far 21 numbers of water recycling plants have been setup in different Railway stations and works have been sanctioned for setting up of Water Recycling Plants at 24 more stations.

Water tables are falling in most States in India. The tube wells drilled are  lowering  water  tables  in  most  of  the  parts  of  the  country.  This problem gets further compounded in areas where rain fall is poor.  To overcome this problem, Railways have taken initiative for installation of  Rain  Water  Harvesting  facility  (RWH)  wherever  possible  from techno-economic  considerations  i.e.  intensity  of  rain  fall,  level  of water  table,  soil  type,  salinity  of  ground  water  etc.  Rain  Water

Harvesting is now  mandatory in all new constructions of built assets like  service  buildings,  hospitals,  stations  buildings  (incl.  remodeling etc),  railway  quarters,  workshops/sheds  etc.  Railway  has  already installed rain water harvesting facilities at 2060 locations and for 130 more locations for installation of rain water harvesting facilities have been approved. Railway  signed  a  Memorandum  of  Understanding  on  3.12.15  with Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation  (MoWR,  RD  &  GR)  regarding  use  of  non-potable  water released  after  treatment  from  Sewage/  Effluent  Treatment  Plants located  in  Ganga  and  Yamuna  river  zones  for  Railways  purposes. Railway shall take such treated non potable water from MoWR, RD & GR for the Railway stations and/or other establishments wherever its requirement  exists  for  non  potable  use  over  and  above  its  own resources (including its own recycled water). This project has recently been conceptualized by MoWR RD & GR. MoWR, RD & GR has kept the period of project, 5 years from 2015-16.

****