Volkswagen's Pune plant gets noticed for its water management efforts
Volkswagen India was honoured with a certificate of appreciation at the first international conference on "Promoting Water Use Efficiency in Urban Sector to Address Climate Change" held at the beginning of October in Delhi.
The conference was organized by CII-Triveni Water Institute in partnership with United States Agency for International Development India. On behalf of the company, Umesh Benkalkar, part of the Think Blue. Factory. project, Volkswagen India Private Limited, received the certificate.
Together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CII-Triveni Water Institute (CII-TWI) promotes water use efficiency across urban sectors to help prepare the society to address the likely impacts of climate variability and change. After a year long-study conducted in three cities, namely Pune, Jaipur and Faridabad, the CII-TWI conducted water audits and were convinced with the water management in Volkswagen's Pune Plant.
Umesh Benkalkar accepts the certificate of appreciation
For 2013 one focus in the Think Blue. Factory. initiative is on reducing the consumption of fresh water with scarcity of water being a major concern in Maharashtra. Therefore Volkswagen has adopted various measures such as recycling industrial water and reusing this in the production process in its Pune Plant. Another effective measure is the use of special water faucets, which reduce the consumption of fresh water by 75%.
"Water is a limited resource and since we cannot create water, we have to use it wisely. With our Think Blue. Factory. initiative we follow sustainable and environment-friendly car production and we aim to reduce the impact on the environment by 25% by 2018. This also includes the consumption of water," said Mahesh Kodumudi, MD, Volkswagen India Private Limited.
