DKMUL resorts to cuts in water use for cleaning

DKMUL resorts to cuts in water use for cleaning

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, May 5, 2016: The DKMUL,  Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Union Ltd. has resorted to drastic cut in water consumption at Mangaluru Dairy after the MCC, Mangaluru City Corporation enforced once in three days water rationing to cope up with the severe water crisis.

The dairy requires more than 2 lakh litres of water each day for processing nearly 3 lakh litres of milk. With the rationing, the dairy gets water from the corporation once in three days, a curtailed quantity, so it has cut down water usage in many activities, said DKMUL Managing Director B.V. Sathyanarayana. Milk production so far is not affected.

Water requirements are for cleaning, as such not for milk processing, MD Sathyanarayana stated and added cleaning operations have been brought down to the bare minimum. Cleaning of the floors of processing plants requires huge amount of water as even small amount of unhygienic residues attract flies and other insects. However, the union is making attempts to keep the floors clean with minimum water, he said. Meanwhile, it is also planning to utilise recycled water for floor cleaning.

Another operation, which demanded large amount of water, was cleaning the milk storage tanks (6.4 lakh capacity). DKMUL used to adopt multiple cleaning methods once a tank becomes empty—cleaning with water, detergents and water—during normal days. Now, the tanks are cleaned only once with water, MD Sathyanarayana said.

The dairy also has a water recycling plant and gets about one lakh litre of recycled water every day.

This recycled water is predominantly used for gardening and flushing in toilets. The union would consider other areas where recycled water could be put to use. 

The dairy does not have any open or borewell on its premises. But it has built soak pits to harvest rainwater and the same has yielded results it was said.