To minimise water pollution and wastage, the Centre has notified stricter environmental standards for sugar mills. Under the new norms, which come into effect immediately, the permissible specific wastewater discharge has been halved to 200 litres/tonne of cane crushed against 400 litres/tonne earlier. The final treated effluent discharge has been restricted to 100 litres/tonne.

“This will ultimately result in less consumption of raw water at the operational level… and the performance of sugar industries will improve,” an official release by the Ministry of Environment and Forest said on Friday.

‘Right direction’ “We believe the new standard is a move in the right direction, but we will need some time to implement it. It is not possible for so many units to buy the required equipment in a short time,” Abinash Verma, Director-General, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), told BusinessLine .

He said a few sugar mills using old technology may find it difficult to switch over to the new technology.

“We will have to find alternative ways to make them compliant,” he added.

Under the new standards, notified on January 14, a single outlet from a unit will be allowed in order to encourage operational efficiency and effluent recycling practices.

Emission limit

The number of effluent quality parameters to be monitored to ensure compliance has been increased to six from two.

The emission limits for particulate matter from stack has been limited to 150 milligram per cubic metre.

The new norms also contain a protocol for ‘treated effluent irrigation’ and ‘wastewater conservation and pollution control management’, wherein loading rates have been specified for different soil textures.

“The government has taken into account the industry's views and set pragmatic, implementable norms,” a Tamil Nadu-based sugar miller said.

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