Page 38 - SAGT Sustainability Report 2021
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36 SOUTH ASIA GATEWAY TERMINALS (PVT) LTD

ENVIRONMENTAL

STEWARDSHIP

blue water intake. The Company’s Water           SAGT is now working on establishing specific water targets to support
Management Policy mandates the optimisation      its overall approach towards achieving a demonstrable reduction in
of water withdrawn from all blue water           blue water withdrawal over time and in turn improving its alignment
sources by reducing consumption, reusing         with UN SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
and recycling to the greatest extent possible.
Water consumption is measured through water      channeled to a dedicated Sewerage Treatment       is disposed to third parties authorized by the
meters and where meters are unavailable,         Plant (STP) located onsite. Output effluents      Central Environment Authority.
through estimates based on pump time. In         from the STP are tested independently for
2020, flow meters were installed to regulate     the required discharge quality standards as       SAGT treats its effluent discharge onsite in
water consumption and minimise wastage           per the tolerance levels permitted under the      an Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) with
at significant points of usage including staff   Environmental Protection License (EPL).           a treatment capacity of 120M3/ day and
changing rooms, machine washing bay,                                                               through a wastewater recycling plant which
canteen, kitchen, contractor’s changing rooms    Discharge testing is carried out bi-annually      has a recycling capacity of 10M3/ day. Both
and the administrative office. Various other     by an independent third-party in line with the    in line with Central Environmental Authority
water saving mechanisms have also been           requirements of the EPL. SAGT remains fully       guidelines, the plants continuously monitor
installed over the years, based on the findings  compliant with all such requirements and no       the quality of treated water, which is reused to
of the quarterly data collection and tracking    violations with regard to quality discharge were  wash vehicles and for gardening. Almost 95%
process.                                         noted during the reporting year.                  of SAGT’s effluents are treated at the onsite
                                                                                                   STP with 5% of water discharged without
SAGT is now working on establishing specific     GRI 303-3: Water Withdrawal                       treatment as permitted by the Environmental
water targets to support its overall approach                                                      Protection License (EPL). As part of the
towards achieving a demonstrable reduction       SAGT procures from the National Water             EPL, Output effluents discharged from the
in blue water withdrawal over time and in turn   Supply and Drainage Board to meet its say         STP are tested to measure its quality against
improving its alignment with UN SDG 6: Clean     to day water needs. The Company does not          the minimum tolerance levels for Biological
Water and Sanitation.                            extract water from any other (ground or sea)      Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen
                                                 sources and does not engage in rainwater          Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids
In the long term, the Company also intends to    harvesting. SAGT consumed 56,953 m3 of            (TSS), pH and Oil and Grease as specified
reinforce the importance of water conservation   water in FY 2020/21, amounting to 49.7L of        under the EPL.
across its supply chain by raising awareness     water per box move, which translates into a
among supply chain partners and also by          2% reduction in total water consumption, but a    During the year, SAGT’s total effluents
embedding water stewardship best practice        14.7 % increase in consumption per box move.      discharge amounted to 40,150 m3.
into the supplier assessment criteria.           This increase was mainly attributed to the
                                                 reduction in the box moves during the year in     No violations of the conditions of the
303-2: Management of water discharge-            review.                                           Environmental Protection License (EPL) were
related impacts                                                                                    noted during the reporting period.
                                                 GRI 303-4: Water Discharge
SAGT’s Water Management Policy specifies                                                           GRI 303-5: Water Consumption
that effluent discharge should be undertaken     The Company’s Water Management Policy
in adherence to the quality levels stipulated    mandates that all effluents discharged to         During the year in review, total fresh municipal
by the Central Environmental Authority.          the environment should at a minimum, meet         water consumption amounted to 16,803m3.
The Environmental Protection License             the discharge quality levels stipulated by
(EPL) Issued by the Central Environmental        regulators.                                       The total water capacity of the water tanks
Authority and renewed annually, provides the                                                       utilised by SAGT is 100m3 and there were no
foundation for the effective management          The sewerage and wastewater generated             changes to the capacity of water during the
of SAGT’s water discharge related impacts.       throughout the building and wastewater            year in review. However, SAGT is currently in
Accordingly, water used in the canteen and       generated in the canteen and meal                 the process of undertaking a study in water
staff washrooms, as well as run off from         preparation areas treated through aerobic and     balance to ascertain the total water discharge.
equipment washing and general cleaning are       anaerobic biological processes, while sludge
all directed to an oil separator and thereafter
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