The Government told the Rajya Sabha that modern ethanol plants typically consume about three to five litres of processed water to produce one litre of ethanol, as it defended its approach to balancing water sustainability, food security and farmers’ interests under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme.
Suresh Gopi, Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, was responding to an unstarred question from Babubhai Jesangbhai Desai in the Rajya Sabha on July 27, 2026, on the water requirements of different ethanol feedstocks and their impact on groundwater and drinking water availability, particularly in water-stressed states.
The Minister said ethanol is produced under the National Policy on Biofuels from a diversified basket of feedstocks, including sugarcane-based feedstocks, maize, damaged foodgrains, broken rice, foodgrains unfit for human consumption, and surplus foodgrains approved by the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC), among other approved agricultural feedstocks. This diversification, he said, reduces dependence on any single crop while improving feedstock resilience, noting that maize’s contribution to ethanol blending has risen from zero per cent in Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2021-22 to around 37 per cent in ESY 2025-26.
The Minister said the Government is promoting crop diversification towards comparatively less water-intensive feedstocks such as maize. He added that an Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in 2024 had examined the water requirements of various ethanol feedstock crops, and that its recommendations were being considered in implementing the programme.
On water-use efficiency, the Minister said measures such as micro-irrigation and drip irrigation were being promoted under the Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, with many sugar mills also encouraging farmers to adopt water-efficient cultivation practices.
He further said molasses-based distilleries with incineration boilers, along with grain-based distilleries, are required to operate as Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) units, enabling recycling and reuse of process water while eliminating liquid effluent discharge.
