UDAIPUR (India CSR): Hindustan Zinc Limited, the world’s largest integrated zinc producer and one of the world’s top ten silver producers, recycled nearly 23 billion litres of water during FY26, raising its annual water recycling rate to 49% while reducing overall water withdrawal. The company also maintained its 3.32x water positive status reflecting continued progress in improving water-use efficiency and reducing freshwater dependency across its integrated mining and smelting operations. The simultaneous increase in water recycling and decline in overall withdrawal demonstrates Hindustan Zinc’s continued focus on circular water management while sustaining operational scale.
This improvement has been driven by the company’s long-term strategy to embed water efficiency across its operations through advanced water recovery technologies, Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems comprising effluent treatment and water treatment plants, and increased utilisation of treated water. By maximising water recovery and reuse, the company continues to reduce freshwater dependency while improving resource efficiency across its integrated operations.
Highlighting the company’s approach to responsible resource management, Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc, said, “The future of mining will not be defined only by what we produce, but by how responsibly we utilise the resources entrusted to us. As India accelerates its industrial and infrastructure growth, the sector has an equally important responsibility to strengthen environmental resilience. At Hindustan Zinc, we are embedding circular water management into every stage of our operations and future expansion, ensuring that growth is decoupled from freshwater dependency. Our focus is to create long-term value by advancing operational excellence while safeguarding water resources for communities, ecosystems and generations to come.”
Across its operations, Hindustan Zinc deploys advanced water treatment infrastructure, including Zero Liquid Discharge systems, Effluent Treatment Plants, Reverse Osmosis units, Multi-Effect Evaporators and Mechanical Vapour Recompression systems to maximise water recycling. The company has also expanded its adoption of filtered tailings technology, enabling recovery of more than 80% of water from tailings while reducing freshwater withdrawals. During FY26, commissioning of a second filtered tailings plant at Rajpura Dariba in Rajasthan further strengthened water circularity and improved recycling efficiency.
The company’s 60 MLD sewage treatment plant in Udaipur, developed under a public-private partnership with the Government of Rajasthan, continues to convert municipal wastewater into industrial-grade water, contributing significantly to the company’s water requirements while supporting improved urban wastewater management.
Beyond its operations, Hindustan Zinc continues to strengthen water security in neighbouring communities. Over the past five years, the company has implemented more than 280 water conservation interventions across water-stressed regions, including rainwater harvesting structures, pond rejuvenation, check dam construction and groundwater recharge initiatives. Collectively, these efforts have created a community water storage potential of 62.3 million cubic metres, strengthening long-term water resilience and improving water availability in surrounding communities.
These initiatives contribute directly to the company’s broader ESG commitments and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. As part of Vedanta’s vision of transforming natural resource development into sustainable, communityled growth, Hindustan Zinc continues to lead by example, delivering measurable environmental and social value in every drop. This commitment is further reinforced by the company’s induction in the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) in 2025, making it the first metals and mining company in India to align with the highest global benchmarks for responsible and sustainable mining.
(India CSR)
