Environmental Stewardship

Sustainable Water Management

Water is a major resource for industrial sector and all lives on earth for living.

Therefore, increasing demand of future water consumption due to the industrial growth in the eastern region together with rapid growth of population and climate change which leads to water crisis cause the risks and challenges in the Company’s business operation. Besides water supply, the Company and its stakeholders also place importance to wastewater management because it would negatively affect the environment if there is mismanagement. Therefore, the wastewater management is always a material sustainability topic to the Company and stakeholders.

Risk

Dependency on raw surface water in water stress areas for tap water production in the industrial estates puts the Company at high risk of water shortages during droughts, which will directly affect the manufacturing process of clients within the industrial estates. Moreover, ineffective wastewater management or the inability to control the effluent discharged by the factories will increase the risk of effluent leakage out of the industrial estates, which not only affects the environment and surrounding communities but also stakeholder trust in the Company.

Opportunity

Adopting the circular economy approach and innovations in water management for the industrial estates will help reduce the Company’s operating costs and create water security for all related stakeholders which is a key factor in building trust among stakeholders and investors and the Company’s competitiveness in this industry.

Management Approach

The Company realizes the importance of efficient water management prevention and correction by establishing the Water Management Committee comprising the Chief Executive Officer and the working group of engineering department and subsidiary companies, i.e. AMATA Water Co., Ltd. and AMATA Facility Services Co., Ltd. to be responsible for water management within AMATA Industrial Estates and reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer.

The Company strictly complies with relevant laws under the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Act, B.E.2522 (1979), Factory Act, B.E. 2535 (1992) and ISO 14001:2015 environmental standards. Water quality is regularly monitored by laboratories registered with the Department of Industrial Works and the operating results on water and wastewater management are disclosed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports. The EIA Monitoring Report is regularly presented to the Environmental Quality Audit Committees of both AMATA Industrial Estates every 6 months. Business operators in the industrial estates are also supervised to ensure their compliance with the regulations of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to prevent problems and mitigate the social and environmental impacts.

The Company has planned the sustainable natural resources consumption by using water resources with the highest efficiency and set the Company’s goal of wastewater management not to discharge wastewater outside the industrial estates, or “Zero Discharge”, since the commencement of business and to regularly monitor quality of water sources used as raw water in the industry and wastewater to ensure that the Company’s water management is efficient and does not affect the stakeholders both in a short and long run

In addition, the Company encourages the communities surrounding the industrial estates to have a better understanding of the Company’s business operations and sustainable water management. Also, the Company provides the expertise to help improve the water management of the community by integrating the cooperation amongst the Company, government agencies and communities to work together.

Water Withdrawal & Reservoir Development for Industrial Water Management

Water is greatly required for the Company’s supply chain to support the production process of factories in the industrial estates. The Company had completed the studies of the social and environmental impacts occurred from the industrial estates’ water consumption prior to the commencement of business operation in order to assess the opportunities and risks from sharing water resources with the communities.

Both AMATA Industrial Estates are located in the eastern region which is drought prone area with water stress . A drought impact assessment conducted by the Company found that both industrial estates have different drought impacts. AMATA City Chonburi Industrial Estate is located at the downstream of catchment area before flowing into the Gulf of Thailand, posing a risk of insufficient water reserve in the industrial estate. The Company has had water management plan in order to efficiently manage inside and outside water reservoirs and maximize recycled water utilization.

AMATA City Rayong Industrial Estate where is located at the upstream of catchment area has risks in water management relating to watershed conservation and the confidence of surrounding communities in the Company's ability to reserve water supply. The Company has built reservoirs within the industrial estate and secured water reserve from outside suppliers while implementing the riverside and watershed forest conservation project and developing a water supply system to support communities in the event of droughts.

The Company has set a policy and targets that the volume of raw water stored in the reservoirs inside and outside the industrial estates must not be less than 150 percent of the total demand of industrial estates in order to respond to unpredictably changing climates at present. As a result, the Company has never experienced a water supply shortage in AMATA Industrial Estates in the past 30 years.

In 2021, the demand for raw water in AMATA Industrial Estates was 31 million cubic meters per year. the Company has 19 reservoirs in both AMATA Industrial Estates, with a total storage capacity of 61.4 million cubic meters and secures water supply from suppliers. This meant that the volume of stored surface water was more than 150 percent of the total water demand in AMATA Industrial Estates per year.

Responsible Water Consumption

Wastewater Management in Industrial Estates

In the wastewater management process of industrial estates, the Company has supervised the quality of effluent discharged from industrial factories. Factories are required to separate rainwater drainage tracks from the wastewater drainage and discharge only qualified initially treated effluent into the central wastewater collection center, which is managed by AMATA Water Co., Ltd., a subsidiary that is in charge of water management within AMATA Industrial Estates.

The factories must deliver the preliminary treated wastewater with quality according to the regulations set by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to the central wastewater collection center of such industrial estate to perform the treatment according to the standard set under the announcement of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, B.E. 2559 (2016) and the announcement of the Ministry of Industry, B.E. 2560 (2017). Treated water from the central wastewater treatment system of the industrial estate will be thoroughly inspected by a private laboratory registered with the Department of Industrial Works and must pass all standard criteria before being reused in any forms. The Company checked the quality of wastewater discharged from the factories on a monthly basis. When the Company found that the quality of wastewater released into the central system did not meet the standards, a warning letter was sent to the factory to improve its system and to charge them the additional wastewater treatment service fee.

Circular Water Management

The Company is aware of the importance of efficient and cost-effective water management. Then it intends to fully utilize the wastewater in the industrial estates according to Zero Discharge concept. The Company has set the 2021 target aiming to reduce the use of surface raw water to 59% of total water supply consumption in order to reduce the dependence on natural water resources and to increase the utilization of treated wastewater.

Due to the continuous development of wastewater treatment systems and quality control of wastewater management, the wastewater treated from the central wastewater treatment plant meets the standard according to the Ministry of Industry's announcement, can be utilized in total (100 percent). The utilization of treated wastewater can be classified into 3 types, including common green areas, used in the power plants' cooling system in AMATA Industrial Estates, and sent to the reclamation system to produce high-quality water using the Reverse Osmosis method.

In 2021, 21.3 million cubic meters of wastewater were treated by the central wastewater treatment system. All treated wastewater (100%) was reused in the industrial estates, 57% of which was used to produce high-quality water through the water reclamation system, 28% was used in the cooling system of power plants, and 15% was used in green area.

Reducing Dependency on Raw Surface Water

The Company has invested in developing high-quality water production process by using the reclamation system with reverse osmosis technology since 2008 and continuously expanded the production capacity of high-quality water. The high-quality water produced was used to replace natural raw water in tap water production process for industrial purposes.

In 2021, the Company targeted to reduce the proportion of raw water consumption to 59% of total water consumption in tap water production. the current capacity of reclamation system is 35,360 cubic meters per day which enabled the Company to reduce raw water consumption in tap water production to 31 million cubic meters (Disclosure 303-1). or representing 59% of total water consumption in 2021, decreased from 60% in 2020 and also saved the cost of raw water sourcing by Baht 76.5 million per year.

As a result, the Company’s raw water reserved for consumption could be extended by 5 months. It also reduced the risk of water shortage and could help support local communities if needed in drought crisis. An expansion of reclamation system capacity also helped increase the confidence of the customers and local communities surrounding the industrial estates in water resources sufficiency and sustainable water management in the industrial estates including reduce the negative impacts and the possibility of contamination on public water sources and the environment.

Promotion of Sustainable Water Management

Water Management Learning Center

Water is one of the most important resources for all industries and communities. The Company, therefore, encouraged all stakeholders to be aware of sustainable water management. The Company thus has established a learning center for water management in AMATA City Chonburi Industrial Estate and opened to local communities and public to visit and learn the pattern of water management in the industrial estates to disseminate the knowledge of water management from the Company’s business operations as well as instilling consciousness and cooperation of water resource conservation to all visitors for the benefits of government agencies, communities, schools and factories in both of the Company’s industrial estates.

Since the commencement of the Water Management Learning Center in AMATA City Chonburi Industrial Estate in 2009, the center has welcomed 336 visiting groups with a total of 10,7845 visitors.

The Company has targeted to encourage its key stakeholders such as customers and local communities to have a better understanding of water management of AMATA Industrial Estates. It opens for general visitors, and organizations, who are interested in visiting the Water Management Learning Center can submit their requests to AMATA Water Co., Ltd. or AMATA Corporation PCL.

In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 80 visitors to the Water Management Learning Center in AMATA City Chonburi Industrial Estate, including a group of industrial estate operators and seven groups of the interested public.

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