RNAIPL wins yet another industry accolade for water conservation

• Awarded top prize for ‘Wastewater Treatment and Recycling’ by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in Jan 2025
• 80% of water used daily is recycled and reused for operations within the plant
• Freshwater consumption nearly halved in three years between 2022-24

Chennai  – A bustling automotive manufacturing company might not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about water conservation. But at RNAIPL (Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd), the JV manufacturing company for the Renault Nissan Alliance in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (India), water conservation is a way of life and a core part of the company’s ethos since start of its operations in 2010.

Earlier in January 2025, RNAIPL’s efforts at water conservation and recycling were recognised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Southern Region, which awarded the top prize for ‘Wastewater Treatment and Recycling’ to the company. This is the latest of many industry accolades won by RNAIPL for its efforts in water conservation (including recycling and reuse). Last year, the company was named a ‘Green Champion’ by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Additionally, RNAIPL was also named the winner for ‘Excellence in Water Management’ at the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) awards organised by CII in May 2024.

More importantly, in February 2024, RNAIPL was given water positive certification by DQS, an internationally accredited ISO certification body attesting to the fact that RNAIPL contributes more water back to the environment than it extracts.

Since its very beginnings, RNAIPL has carefully adopted a multi-pronged water management strategy that minimises impact on environment by drastically reducing the need to extract fresh water from ground water tables.

RNAIPL obtains 90% of its industrial water requirement from rainwater harvested and stored within the plant for year-round usage. RNAIPL’s rainwater harvesting ponds are capable of storing up to 149 million litres of water at any one time. The ponds are fed by rainwater harvested from surfaces across the plant.

Additionally, RNAIPL recycles and reuses 80% of the water consumed during daily operations. The manufacturing plant has inhouse capabilities to recycle up to 3 million litres of wastewater every day.  Water thus recycled and treated is used for a number of purposes including circulation in cooling towers, cleaning the plant’s solar panels, jigs and general cleaning requirements, other industrial applications such as powertrain production, demineralised water production and so on.

Through its various measures to conserve, recycle and reuse water, RNAIPL has reduced its fresh water consumption by 48% between 2022 and 2024 well ahead of its original goal to reduce water consumption by 21% between 2022 and 2030. This has been possible thanks to regular water audits, upgrading plumbing where required and implementing stringent monitoring measures for water usage.

RNAIPL is also committed to sharing its knowledge and expertise on water conservation with local communities. The plant has helped rejuvenate 15 water bodies in its neighbourhood helping improve access to water for local villages.