CONTENTS
Chapters
- The Coming Water Crisis
- Water Availability and Use
- Facing Water Shortages
- Consequences of Overuse and Pollution
- The Health Dimension
- Water Conservation and Management
- Toward a Blue Revolution
HIGHLIGHTS
Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
Volume XXVI, Number 1
September, 1998 |
Saving Water in Industry
Industry is water-intensive. For example, making one ton of steel can
consume as much as 300 tons of water. In developed countries industries
use from one-half to three-quarters of all water withdrawals compared with
about one-quarter as the global average (139)
(see Freshwater and economic
development in Chapter 2.2).
Driven by stiffer regulations and the need to cut costs, such water-intensive
industries as chemicals, iron and steel, and pulp and paper have made
impressive strides in reducing the amount of water needed for production.
In some countries these industries are both reusing and recycling water
in current production processes and also redesigning production processes
to require less water per unit of production. Consider these examples
(139):
- In the US, industrial water use fell by over one-third between 1950 and 1990, while industrial
output nearly quadrupled.
- In the former West Germany the total amount of water used in industry today is the same as in
1975, while industrial output has risen by nearly 45%.
- In Sweden strict pollution control measures have cut water use in half in the pulp and paper
industry, while production has doubled in little more than a decade.
In developing countries, however, there is tremendous scope for saving water in industry.
Take China, for instance: The amount of water needed to produce a ton of steel ranges from 23 to
56 cubic meters, whereas in the US, Japan, and Germany, the average is less than 6 cubic meters.
Similarly, a ton of paper produced in China requires around 450 cubic meters of water, twice as
much as used in European countries (15). |
