BENGALURU: Following the huge difference made in its water requirements after reviving four wells inside its campus, the country’s premier factory for production of train wheels, Rail Wheel Factory (RWF), is now set to sink two new wells to ready itself for the approaching summer.
This sprawling factory spread across 191 acres in Yelahanka did away with the need to use water from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) by reviving its own wells with systematic interventions. An average of 2-3 lakh litres of water per day are required for cooling purposes at its key workshops, one which melts steel and operates at a temperature of 1,700 degree Celsius while the axle unit operates at 1,100 degree Celsius.
During the last six months, it has manufactured 87,530 wheels and 39,532 axles apart from 29,759 wheel sets.
Chief Environment Officer Ajay Singh told The New Indian Express, “We are totally self sufficient now, thanks to the revival works we undertook at our factory two years ago. RWF used to source anywhere between 2 to 2.5 lakh litres of water per day from BWSSB using the dedicated water pipeline in place for us from the Allasandra sewage treatment plant.” From September 2017, the factory has managed to meet all its requirements without any outside support, he added.
Due to lack of good rains this year, the factory ended up taking some water from BWSSB.
“To avert a similar situation in the coming years, it is now sinking two new wells within its premises. The spots have been identified and it is all swampy now. So, we are waiting for the rains to subside to begin the work,” he said.
These efforts at self-sufficiency have helped the RWF save Rs 40 lakh annually, another official said.
These are the revived wells which have been named after people who have contributed towards their factory. Damodar well (yields 1 lakh litres/day), Kandaswamy well (yields 1 lakh litres) Somasekhar (20,000 litres) and ETCO well (20,000 litres).
In addition to that, Rail Wheel Factory saves another 2 lakh litres per day thanks to its four roof top mega harvesting structures.
“We are further implementing another innovative project of capturing surface run off water by diverting the water in a ground level 6ft width x 60 feet length structure for cleaning and directly using the water for cooling purpose,” Singh added.