Future proof business

Using water responsibly

Water is a natural resource that must be used responsibly and with good judgement. Our production sites are generally located in areas where water supply is still plentiful.

The exception is our Indian site in Ahmednagar, where there is a water shortage stress at times. Water access and water quality is however not a steady state, which is evident from the drought in Sweden during the summer in 2018. This means we need to continuously assess our water footprint and make sure we do not contribute to a negative development. We monitor our water discharges and measure substances of concern. Terms for water discharges are at most operational sites part of our environmental permit.

The largest quantity of water used, 4,160,300 cubic metres, is sea water for cooling in closed systems. The heat produced in these systems is exported as district heating in Sweden. Water is also used in the atomizing process where molten steel is atomized into the desired particle sizes in a controlled ‘water jet’ process. Again, the water is treated, cooled and largely recycled in the atomizing process. Water for dust binding and slag quenching is treated on site or sent off to external water treatment plants.

Water withdrawal by source

Water discharges by destination

Water use, cubic metres	2018
Water withdrawal, sea water	4,160,300
Water withdrawal, freshwater (including collected rain water)	2,100,400
Total water withdrawal	6,260,700
Total water discharges	5,586,500
Total water consumption	674,200

Water discharges, tonnes	2018*
COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)	9.2
O&G (Oil and grease)	3.0
N-tot (Nitric nutrients)	0.4
TS (Total Solids (TSS+TDS))	5.2

Water discharges are calculated based on local monitoring carried out to cover the needs for function control and compliance to environmental permit limits. As a result, not all sites report on all substances and the consolidated figures may therefore not cover all actual discharges.