NLMK has completed an upgrade of its industrial water supply system at its main site in Lipetsk.  This will allow the Company to halve river water consumption, reduce waste water discharge into the river Voronezh by 10 times and achieve the best environmental indicators among Russian iron and steel companies. 

The reduced environmental impact has been achieved due to the construction of a cascade of new pump stations with pipelines and redirection of part of the industrial waste water previously discharged to the municipal waste water treatment facilities.  As part of the upgrading process, two river-side pump stations have been refurbished.  Incorporation of an additional stand-alone reservoir enables reuse of treated industrial discharge instead of fresh river water.

The project is worth over RUR600 million and has been implemented as part of Phase II of NLMK Technical Upgrade Program.

For reference:

In 2008 NLMK withdrew 70 million cubic meters of water from the Voronezh river to cover its process needs. The Company’s closed cycle water amounts 1,500 million cubic meters.  Industrial discharge volume amounted to 45 mn cubic meters. By applying a new process pattern in the near future the Company plans to completely stop waste water discharge into the Voronezh river.