Water Consumption and Effluents

As a company operating in a water-scarce region, Qatar Steel aims to reduce water consumption to the best of its ability, for the benefit of operations, as well as of the community and environment.Qatar Steel uses water in the form of freshwater, seawater, and recycled water in its operations, mainly as a cooling agent.

Qatar Steel’s water management approach focuses on three objectives:

1. Decrease freshwater consumption;
2. Reduce wastewater discharge;
3. Increase the recycling rate of processed water.

In 2018, Qatar Steel’s operations consumed 1,660,285 m3 of freshwater. The freshwater consumption is being controlled in-house; however, this control program is affected by the need to sustain production requirements. With the implementation of the Qatar Steel’s NZLD project (Near Zero Liquid Discharge project), a further reduction of freshwater use by as much as 40% is expected. The goal of the NZLD project is to reuse wastewater in the production process in order to reduce freshwater consumption. In 2018, Qatar Steel successfully increased the percentage of recycled or reused water to 35.9%, up from 31.7% in 2017. Moreover, a trial to re-use waste water for garden irrigation is started in 2018. The estimated quantity wastewater re-use for irrigation is 10,300 m3. The company is also making progress on its objective to reduce wastewater discharge to the sea. 2018 saw the discharged wastewater decrease to 622,320 m3 from 708,174 m3 in 2017, a 12% reduction over the course of a year