Steps taken by Navy to protect ocean ecology

Steps taken by Navy to protect ocean ecology

Indian Navy has voluntarily implemented all six schedules of International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) regulations.

All Naval ships have been fitted with MARPOL compliant pollution control equipment such as :

1. Oily Water Separators (OWS) and
2. Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) for treating waste generated onboard.

Further, to ensure upkeep of harbour waters, accelerated bioremediation technology has also been developed through Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL), Mumbai.

• In efforts to reduce carbon footprint, measures have been brought in force for a steady increase in utilisation of e-vehicles such as e-cycles, e-trolley and e-scooters.
• As a long term strategy, it is being planned to gradually reduce the usage of fossil-fuel based vehicles during working hours through use of e-vehicles or bicycles.
• To promote the same, units observe ‘No Vehicle Days’ regularly and the concept of a ‘Vehicle Free Base’ is also being introduced in some Naval establishments.
• Reduction of overall power consumption through a progressive induction of energy efficient equipment.
• Substantial efforts have yielded a near-complete transition from conventional lighting to more energy efficient solid-state lighting.
• Use of capacitor banks to maintain high power factor, use of transparent acrylic sheet roofs to harness natural light, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) based electricity metering for effective monitoring, use of occupancy sensors, sky-pipes and turbo-ventilators in workshop floors, to name a few.
• 24 MW of Solar Photo Voltaic projects are at various stages of implementation in the Navy’s shore establishments.
• All Naval units have adopted aggressive waste handling processes for collection, segregation and subsequent handling as per GoI Green norms.
• An Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility (ISWMF) is being setup at Naval station, Karwar, which includes a centralised waste segregation plant, Organic Waste Converter (OWC) for wet waste and a facility to handle dry/ unsegregated domestic waste.
• Green Initiatives of the Navy have also been augmented by afforestation and plantation drives.
• In the past one year, over 16,500 trees have been planted which would mitigate an estimated 330 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide.
• Community participation has played a major role in implementation of these initiatives.
• To foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment, various mass participation events such as mass ‘shramdan’, coastal cleanship drives etc are organized regularly.
• Further, a trophy introduced to recognise the unit adopting best green practices for the year, has proved useful in encouraging units to embrace Green initiatives.

Overall, Indian Navy has maintained a steadfast focus towards sustainable future while integrating energy efficiency and environment conservation within its operational and strategic roles.