Are You Playing Your Part to Reduce Water Consumption

As sustainability resource planning is getting in the mainstream, companies have also been taking carbon emissions reduction seriously in their respective boardrooms. The more forward thinking companies, however, always know better, as they make sure that their own sustainability initiatives and programs encompass all resources, including taking strategies to reduce water consumption.

The greenhouse gas protocol tells us that there are different categories of carbon emissions. We understand that emissions can be produced in different ways -- directly when energy is produced, indirectly when it is consumed and upstream or downstream of a typical production facility. We can refer to this analogy when trying to reduce water consumption, by ensuring that we understand how water can be used in the supply chain and in disposal efforts.

A smart company can take three steps to reduce water consumption, while also protecting its position in the marketplace, assessing risks and embracing sustainability. First of all, an organization would have to assess its water baseline, get accurate inventory of its water resources and identify its water footprint. Secondly, it must fully understand its risk exposure and thirdly it must design and implement a plan.

In doing water footprint inventory, the ultimate goal is to understand how water resources may be used to arrive at efficient ways of allocating such in the production of goods and services. This could be in the "work in progress" production phase or during transportation and the company needs to take responsibility for the fact that this happens. While it may well be beyond the borders of the organization, the fact is that the company's demand for the supplier's product is the cause of this water usage.

Fundamentally, in the production stage, water used should be from a renewable source, where at all possible. Water is likely to be as volatile a political subject as carbon emissions in the future. We need to consider how stakeholders and consumers become increasingly aware that water is taken from common resources which could get depleted or contaminated.

Water can become a very critical issue for any industry or business. Questions will govern its efficient use, but it can also be a potentially inflammatory issue after the fact as well. There should be efforts done to recycle water as discharge and runoff from water use can become one of the biggest pollution concerns.

For any related risks attributed to water use and resources, any company that understands such issues well would find the urgency to take action to reduce water consumption when possible. So many factors can combine to place a premium on water. Local ground conditions, for example, or weather conditions that cause temporary drought. Consider how market conditions could cause energy fluctuations and a corresponding demand for water generated power and so on.

Water related risks can change significantly depending on the geographical location of a company facility. Therefore, for distributed organizations, an assessment of such risks must take in to account regional disparities, local political positions and attitudes.

The corporate approach must be modified to reduce water consumption from a global perspective. Essentially, we have not increased our water efficiency over the last couple of decades, choosing to place most emphasis on energy efficiency and carbon emissions. Sustainability is multifaceted and cannot be polarized.