No, it is not mandatory to track wastewater via instruments. However, the most accurate way to track wastewater volume is by using a metering system. Mechanical meters and ultrasonic meters are widely used to track wastewater volume. Facilities should install meters at all wastewater discharge points before the wastewater is discharged to the environment. If the facility has its own effluent treatment plant (ETP), the meter should be installed at the outlet of the wastewater treatment facility.
In case the facility does not have meters installed, in such scenarios the facility can use estimation methodology. This means estimating the wastewater discharge volume using the incoming water volume taking into account the water use and water loss due to process losses, evaporation, and absorption into products. Facilities can also calculate wastewater discharge volume from any official environment report like EIA, Environment permit application, etc.
For all such estimates, facilities are advised to keep all the documentation that is used to arrive on such estimated volumes; these documents will be required at the time of FEM verification.
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