Wastewater
Wastewater is generated from manufacturing processes and various site operations and contains dissolved and suspended solids. Wastewater quality is measured by Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) which is a measure of the oxygen required to chemically oxidise organic and inorganic compounds present in the water. COD is therefore an indirect measure of the foulness of wastewater.
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Wastewater volume includes all manufacturing
and site process wastewater as well as sanitary and
food service wastewater. Wastewater released to offsite
municipal sewers represents 53.6% of total wastewater
volume, wastewater released direct to sea, to rivers
and to estuaries represents 36.7% and wastewater that
has been reused, recovered or recycled is included in
other and represents the remaining 9.6% of the total.
In 2003, GSK generated 16.6 million cubic metres of
wastewater compared with 16.5 million cubic meters generated
in 2002. A slightly greater percentage of wastewater
was recycled or reused in 2003 (up from 8.5% to 9.6%
or 1.6 million cubic meters of wastewater recycled in
2003). Many GSK sites in India and nearby regions have
implemented "zero wastewater" discharge programmes due
to the restrictions on water usage in the region. In
addition, other sites continue to look for opportunities
to reuse and recycle wastewater such as another site
in India that reduced water consumption and effluent
generation. |
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Wastewater
Volume by Business |
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Wastewater Chemical Oxygen Demand |
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Several GSK manufacturing operations
have wastewater treatment facilities onsite that provide
secondary level treatment of their wastewater, which
removes most organic pollutants by biological systems
or physical or chemical treatment. Other sites do not
treat their own wastewater but send it to local publicly
owned wastewater treatment works.
In 2003, the COD of wastewater was 23.6 million kilograms,
a decrease of 0.8 % from 2002 and a decrease of 12.3%
from the 2001 baseline. Nearly 66.9% of wastewater COD
was in the wastewater released direct to sea and to
estuary and 3.8% was in the recycled or reused wastewater.
The remaining 28.8% was in the wastewater sent to publicly
owned wastewater treatment works. Wastewater released
direct to sea, the largest volume of wastewater that
does not go to publicly owned wastewater treatment,
had associated COD of 11.6 million kilograms, which
is an 8.4% increase over 2002.
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In 2002, GSK operations were requested to report COD after any final treatment occurring at a municipal or publicly owned wastewater treatment works to provide a more accurate picture of the impact of GSK operations on the final receiving waterways. However, the 2003 COD data still reflects, primarily, the COD after only onsite treatment as it has been difficult to make the transition to this new reporting definition. Over time, we expect to be able to report COD both when wastewater leaves our sites and the COD impact to receiving water bodies.
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In 2001 we set a target to reduce the COD of wastewater
effluent by 30% on a per unit sales basis by the
end of 2005. While progress toward that target
is not insignificant, we will need continued focus
on the area if we are to succeed in reaching the
2005 improvement target.
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History of data changes
In 2002, the COD of wastewater was reported as 23.2 million kilograms. During the data review in 2003, sites took the opportunity to review and refine their wastewater data resulting in a revision of the 2002 wastewater COD to 23.8 million kilograms and a revision of the 2001 baseline COD to 26.9 million kilograms.
Wastewater Chemical Oxygen Demand by Business |
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