News
Whisky Industry Prioritises Water Sustainability
Commercial water saving should be a priority for all businesses these days, with water scarcity hitting headlines on a regular basis. Without this precious resource, everything would grind to a halt and while you might well think that we get so much rain here in the UK that it’s not a pressing issue, but water conservation is a global concern and companies can do an awful lot to help.
This has just been evidenced by the Scottish whisky industry, which – according to the Herald Scotland – has been making heavy investments in science in order to ensure that water supplies are secure well into the future.
A PhD student from the University of Aberdeen, Jessica Fennell, has just been taken on by whisky giant Chivas Brothers to work alongside the company and safeguard this precious resource moving forward. Ms Fennell will be researching how to tackle the effects of climate change and trying to find natural solutions to reduce and manage the impact of water scarcity and rising temperatures.
Similarly, Morag Garden – head of sustainability and innovation at the Scottish Whisky Association – said that the sector as a whole is now taking water sustainability very seriously indeed. She told the news source: “It is one of only three ingredients used to make Scotch, along with cereals and yeast, so every effort is made to ensure responsible use of water in the production process.”
Ms Garden went on to note that since 2008 there has been a 14 per cent reduction in net water usage while Scotch whisky production has risen in order to meet global demand.
Chivas Brothers has been focusing on water management in particular as part of its environmental policy, saying that it signed up to the CEO Water Mandate run by the UN back in 2010 in a bid to slash water consumption and protect water resources.
Saving water shouldn’t just be a concern from a business perspective but also from a global one as well – although it is worth noting that prioritising this can often lead to significant cost savings for your company.
There are three main ways in which a company can reduce its water use – water leak detection and repair (with a full site survey being carried out to find leaks of any size), water auditing (where an in-depth analysis of your historical water bills is carried out), and water monitoring (where we install remote monitoring equipment that will track water flow hourly for ten years in order to maximise efficiency and spot leaks immediately).
Bear in mind that if you do go down this route, you could achieve savings of more than 30 per cent off your current water bill – which means you can save water, reduce costs and increase your profits, all at the same time.
If you’d like to find out more about these services, either individually or as a complete package, get in touch with us today.