It’s a Sunday afternoon. Suresh and his 6 years old son sitting in their hall watching TV. A documentary named as “A city without water” started playing on their TV screen. It caught their attention.
A beautiful city in South Africa, "Cape Town" ran out of water. City announced “Zero day”. Government has announced use of only 50 liter water per person per day. Some people were so poor they cannot even buy a bottle of drinking water. A lot of people were suffering from this water crisis.
After watching documentary, son asked some questions to Suresh that left him in deep silence.
Papa what if our city ran out of water?
What if we don’t get water to drink?
Will we have to stand in long queuing lines to take water like these people in Cape Town?
These questions couldn’t let Suresh sleep all night. He kept thinking; “if our generation continues using water carelessly then one day my son may not be able to have any water left for him and for his next generation. I must do something for this”.
Next morning, Suresh went to his office. It’s a yarn dyeing section of a Textile Industry. While on morning round he observed that a lot of water is used in his plant and there are so many work practices where water is being used carelessly. Suresh discussed this with his HOD and proposed if they reduces water requirement per kg yarn dyeing then this would lead to reduction of their effluent water treatment cost. With top management’s approval Suresh & his team worked together to find out ways to reduce water consumption. They had a brainstorming session and came out with good ideas. They increased yarn loading capacity of dyeing machine with low MLR. They also optimized their dyeing process. In some areas they reduced number of water baths. They identified and eliminated wrong work practices. Training regarding proper use of water at home and within organization being provided for employees at all levels. With combined efforts they were able to reduce consumption of water. This project helped not only to reduce water consumption in plant but also helped to increase production without loss of quality. It reduced cost of effluent treatment. Suresh and his team were able to reduce their water consumption per kg yarn to a considerably low value which was in favor of both environment and company.
Now Suresh feels like a proud human being who not only cares for his son but who is also responsible to take care of Mother Nature.
Lessons Learned
- Sometimes we are not able to see opportunities near us until we get enlighten with some signal.
- It’s important to consider environment and society while thinking of growth and innovation. Our ideas for improvement must not affect environment and society adversely.
- We should be concerned about our actions related to environment otherwise a day will come when life of our upcoming generations will be in danger.
- By taking care of nature & environment actually we are taking care of our own self.
- With top management commitment ,support & coordination of team ,an organisation can contribute a lot towards growth and success.