Bangladesh today requires better dyeing, washing, bleaching and water treatment/recycling as solutions.
Despite being a deltaic country, it is faced with water scarcity even as a study carried out in 2019 found Bangladesh has lost almost a third of its groundwater in a decade.
An apparel manufacturing powerhouse as it is, next only to China in terms of production and export volumes and renowned for huge water consumption, it was but natural that questions would be asked about the industry and how it can cut down water consumption further.
The role of relevant supply chain partners becomes even more important towards supporting the industry better by providing more water-efficient interventions and technologies.
Recently, Bangladesh for the first time tabulated the shadow price of water for different sectors in terms of productivity of the natural resources as there’s no alternative to valuing water, which is the only way towards deciding on equitable distribution of the natural resource across sectors.
A shadow price is an estimated price for something that is not normally priced or sold in the market. It is often used in cost-benefit accounting to value intangible assets.
Sector-wise shadow pricing of water has however thrown up some surprising results, which highlighted how the apparel sector’s continuous efforts to bring efficiency in water usage through conserving and recycling is paying dividends even if a lot remains to be done still.
The Water Resources Ministry report says financial value of water varies widely in the industrial sector, depending on the nature of outputs. The cost of water is highest in power generation – Taka 600 to Taka 1,800 per cubic metre (cum) for gas-based plants while average cost of water used in the construction sector is Taka 169 cum even if the value of water used in apparel factories is lower compared to other industrial sectors (shadow price of water in readymade garment industry is estimated at Taka 77.85 including conservation cost), all thanks to the efforts put in by the garment makers.
Take for example Narayanganj-based Fakir Apparels, which reduced water use by 70 per cent in two years even as Mondol Fabrics of Gazipur, cut water usage by 27 per cent after adopting clean technology.
The Water Resources Ministry report maintained Fakir Apparels had to earlier use 24.96 crore litres of water every month to wash and dye 1,200 tonnes of fabric, which has now come down to a mere 6.96 crore litres, while Mondol Fabrics brought down water use to 80 litres per kg of fabric from 120 litres.
“…we used 120 litres of water to produce a kilogram of clothes. Now we use 60 litres for the same amount of fabric,” claimed DBL Group’s Head of Sustainability Mohammed Zahidullah.
DBL Group, which is one of the leading apparel exporters in Bangladesh catering to wide range of global clientele, said it managed to cut its water usage by half by 2016 after investing around US $ 80,000 for factory upgradation even as Managing Director of Ananta Apparels, Sharif Zahir, claimed his company has reduced water consumption to 55 litres from 250 litres for washing a pair of jeans.
Rainwater harvesting adds a new dimension to conservation efforts…
Currently the global leader in terms of green garment factories with 157 Leadership in Environmental and Energy in Design (LEED) certified garment units across the country, the green apparel units in Bangladesh have been saving an annual average of 40 per cent on their power and water costs by introducing rainwater harvesting.
A new study carried out by the WaterAid and RAin Forum maintained rainwater could meet up to 60 per cent water demand at garment factories.
WaterAid is an international non-Governmental organisation, focused on water, sanitation and hygiene while RAiN Forum is a Bangladesh-based non-profit voluntary organisation established to tackle the upcoming water crisis.
According to the study, which aims to give a better understanding on the demand and consumption of water in the apparel production process, harvested rainwater currently meets 15 per cent to 60 per cent of the demand for non-drinkable water at textile and garment factories, helping the industry further its green endeavours by reducing dependence on groundwater.
“Harvested rainwater even meets 100 per cent of the demand for non-drinkable water in some garment factories that do not have dyeing and washing units,” claimed Member Secretary of the RAiN Forum Md. Ashraful Alum, adding it takes an investment of about Taka 65 lakh to establish a reservoir in the factory to harvest rainwater while underlining it usually takes about seven to 10 years to recoup this investment as rainwater harvesting is a cost-effective and environmentally efficient way to reduce groundwater usage and save energy.
Putting a premium on water usage!
Even if the industry has cut down on its water usage significantly over the years, keeping in consideration the long-term implications, the study suggests tax rebates, direct cash incentives, certification of water efficient industries to promote investment in water conservation and efficiency.
“Green adjusted taxation rates should be applied for promoting water efficient financing,” maintained the study even as Country Director of WaterAid Bangladesh said despite many nations talking about shadow price of water, import and export bills do not include the values, while underlining adding the values to the bills would be a major factor in the future.
“…entrepreneurs do not need to charge foreign buyers for water prices now. But it’s high time we talked about shadow pricing to raise mass awareness about the value of the natural resource. Both the fashion owners and common people need to be aware of it,” maintained the Bangladesh Country Director of WaterAid even as Director (Planning) at WARPO or Water Resources Planning Organisation which is an autonomous national organisation responsible for the implementation of water resource planning in Bangladesh, Md. Alamgir Hossain, on his part assured, “So far, the Government does not have any plan to realise the water values from the entrepreneurs.”
The possibility of realising water values from the industry, if at all at some point in time, did evoke some strong reactions from the garment makers.
“If the Government levies water prices on us, we the apparel makers will bear the brunt ultimately since buyers always prefer sourcing products at a cheaper rate,” said BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim even as Sharif Zahir on his part stated levying water price could prompt unhealthy competition amongst the garment makers to supply apparels at cheaper rate, which would not augur well for the industry.
“Question remains as to how to integrate the use of shadow prices for water in the public investment process to ensure sustainable investment decisions in key economic sectors…,” rightly asks the report while underlining use of water as an economic resource, despite being treated as important aspect in decision making, is not yet considered in the planning process.
It however cautioned against hastily getting into use of the estimated shadow prices of water and rather suggested enforcing what it termed ‘polluter pay’ and ‘volumetric allocation of water’ guidelines for various sectors to reach zero waste status, which is perhaps the most feasible way to address the water issue effectively.
