# What is the difference between water withdrawal and water consumption in BRSR?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/brsr-water-withdrawal-vs-consumption

Withdrawal is all the water you take in from every source. Consumption is the part that does not leave as discharge: withdrawal minus discharge, adjusted if stored water changes a lot. A plant that takes 10,000 kL and discharges 6,500 kL consumes 3,500 kL.

## Where each number comes from

- Withdrawal: municipal or industrial supply bills, borewell meter readings, tanker invoices in kL, and harvested rainwater if metered.
- Discharge: effluent meter readings, CETP invoices, and ETP outlet logs.
- Consumption: the difference, usually water lost in evaporation, product and cooling towers.

## Mistakes to avoid

- Reporting bills in rupees instead of kL.
- Counting recycled ETP water as new withdrawal; it is reuse, not a new source.
- Leaving out tanker water because it arrives without a meter. The invoice quantity is the record.

## Why both matter

Withdrawal shows pressure on local sources. Consumption shows how much water the site removes from the area for good, which is what water-stressed regions care about.

## Worked example

- Municipal supply 6,000 kL + borewell 3,000 kL + tanker 1,000 kL = withdrawal 10,000 kL.
- Discharge to CETP 6,500 kL.
- Consumption = 10,000 kL minus 6,500 kL = 3,500 kL.

Illustrative figures.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads kWh, litres and kg from electricity bills and fuel invoices into a dated record per site, with the factor and source on every line, and prepares BRSR drafts from that data. Reports are self-declared drafts.

- [Water intensity for BRSR](https://senseible.earth/answers/water-intensity-calculation-for-brsr)
- [Water tanker purchases](https://senseible.earth/answers/water-tanker-purchases-which-scope)
- [Borewell pumping energy](https://senseible.earth/answers/borewell-pumping-energy-per-kl)

Sources: [GRI Standards, GRI 303 Water and Effluents (globalreporting.org)](https://www.globalreporting.org), [SEBI, BRSR and BRSR Core circulars (sebi.gov.in)](https://www.sebi.gov.in)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.