~Tata Steel's Mines Division awarded for its 'Most Innovative Rainwater Harvesting Project' ~

Tata Steel's Mines Division, Noamundi has been awarded Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) National Award for Excellence in Water Management 2011 for its "Most Innovative Rainwater Harvesting Project". The National Competition for excellence in water management, organized by CII, was held at Jaipur from 23rd-25th November 2011. Sri Gurmeet Singh Kunnar, Hon'ble Minister of State for Agriculture Marketing and Water Resources, Government of Rajasthan presented this prestigious award to the Company.

The present year's theme for CII's Water Conclave 2011 was "Harnessing water resource for better tomorrow". Tata Steel's Mines Division, Noamundi has been conferred with the award for its rain water harvesting project at Noamundi situated in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and its horizontal deployment at Joda in Keonjhar district of Orissa. Fourty leading companies like ITC, TCS, Pepsico, L& T, Vedanta Alumina, Aradhana Soft drinks, Infosys etc competed for the coveted award. Several eminent personalities like Mr SG Vyas, Chairman, CII, Rajasthan Sate Council; Mr S Raghupathy, Executive Director, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre; Mr Mukund Vasudevan, Co-Chairman, Power and Water Committee, CII Northern Region and MD, Pentair Water India honoured the ceremony with their graceful presence.

For conserving the depleting source of water and also to attain self-sufficiency in water, rain water harvesting site named Aqua Park has been developed at Noamundi. The rain water harvesting would also help in avoiding dependence on river source and huge cost of operating pumps and pipe lines could be minimised. The park covering an area of over 1000 meter square with water shed area of 12 lakh meter square, has been designed with water bodies, graceful statutes, park lights under shadow of avenue trees, water bodies, exquisite waterfalls, fountains and innumerable glittering lightbulbs. The garden full of flowering plants, creepers all around, gurgling waterfall and fountain are certainly a fine treat for the visitor's finer sensibilities.

Following the footsteps of the Noamundi Mines, Tata Steel's Joda Mines too made provisions for rain water harvesting geomorphological, hydro-geological, remote sensing, geophysical and conventional water divining surveys to identify potential recharge zones. Accordingly a large Storage-cum-Percolation Pond (SCP) has been constructed in that ares. A large diameter recovery well with scientifically designed weep holes are on the North-Eastern corner of SCP where the ground water flow lines converge. The unique rain water harvesting project which takes advantage of the natural contours of the land to maximize the harvesting water will help increase the yield of the open wells and bore wells on the downstream side.

Dr Madhukar Gupta, Divisional Commissioner-Jaipur, Government of Rajasthan delivered a talk on the present scenario of water in Rajasthan. The gathering was further addressed by Padma Bhusan Prof VS Vyas, Dy Chairman, Rajasthan Planning Board and Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In his address to the gathering, Hon'ble Minister Sri Gurmeet Singh Kunnar outlined the emerging precarious ground water scenario across the country and informed that it is anticipated that by the year 2022, the worst scenario of depletion of ground water is expected to surface. He praised the efforts of conserving water by Tata Steel and the other companies that participated. Mr Saroj Banerjee, Head (Engineering Services)-OMQ, Tata Steel, along with other senior officials of the company received the award on behalf of Tata Steel.