Emissions to water

Most of the water we abstract is used for non-contact cooling and is returned directly to the watercourses from which it is taken, with no deterioration in quality. To minimise the impact of our process effluents, and to achieve high levels of compliance with emission limits (and with environmental quality standards in the watercourses into which we discharge), we employ a complex range of biological, chemical and physical effluent treatment technologies at many of our plants.

We are continuously improving our treatment capability. In addition to effluent treatment, we also deploy a wide range of pollution prevention measures across all of our sites to ensure that potential pollutants such as oils, acids, raw materials and water treatment chemicals are stored and used in contained systems. The adjacent case study describes some of the tangible improvements that have arisen as a result of the water quality schemes that we have recently installed.