77 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2018/2019 04 S E C T I O N ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP GRI 103-1/2/3, GRI 303-4, GRI 303-5 WATER MANAGEMENT Water is an essential natural resource that is required across the entire life cycle of oil palm production. FGV places a high priority on ensuring that we manage our water resources efficiently to minimise impacts on the surrounding ecosystem and local communities. For our plantations operations, we aim to reduce our water usage in mills to 1.2 MT of water per MT of FFB produced. In 2019, we used an average of 1.29 MT of water to process 1 MT of FFB, with a total consumption of 18,453,672 MT. We monitor our impact on water systems closely as most of our water supply is extracted from nearby rivers and our plantations are in and among key river systems. We have a total of 135 significant river systems within our operations, many of which are monitored on a regular basis to identify if there is any deterioration in the water quality. All water discharged from our mills undergoes treatment to ensure that the biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels meet regulatory limits. Samples are also taken every month and sent to an accredited laboratory for quality testing. We will continue to improve our processes further to ensure we meet all regulatory requirements. In our sugar operations, vast quantities of water are used in the sugar refining process. We have continued to adopt strong water management measures to ensure the efficiency of water usage within our operations and the amount of water used and reused in our daily operations is constantly measured and monitored. Water usage increased by 14.9% during 2019 as consumption factored in MSM Johor’s full year of operations (as compared to only six months of operations in 2018). River flushing activities at MSM Perlis to mitigate a low-performing industrial effluent treatment system also contributed to the increase. Our logistics operations has always been conscious of its water consumption. In 2008, Logistics has installed a reverse osmosis (RO) plant for its boiler operations. The RO plant uses treated effluent discharged from the on-site waste water treatment plant as a water source. In 2019, the target was to produce a minimum of 1,900 m3 per month of RO water for boiler consumption. On average, this initiative replaces over 20% of the boiler’s water consumption needs with RO water annually. Volume of water withdrawn (m3) Water source 2017 2018 2019 Plantations Surface water 18,107,241 16,970,828 18,453,672 Total 18,107,241 16,970,828 18,453,672 Our goals Plantations Sugar Logistics 1.2 MT of water per MT of FFB in mills 2% reduction in water intensity by 2020 To produce a minimum of 1,900 m3 per month of reverse osmosis (RO) water for boiler operations
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