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What Is Sustainable Water Management?
As the global environment continues to buckle under the combined pressures of population growth, climate change, urbanisation, pollution and increasingly frequent extreme weather events like drought and flooding, it will become ever more important to prioritise the sustainable use of natural resources, something that is championed by the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This is a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity that puts 17 sustainable development goals at its heart, bringing together all nations in a global partnership to tackle climate change and preserve the world’s ecosystems, while ending poverty, improving health and education, driving economic growth and reducing inequality.
Sustainable development goal 6 (SDG 6) calls for safe access to water and sanitation for all, with official stats showing that there are approximately two billion people around the world lacking in this provision.
Furthermore, water stress and scarcity is only going to get worse as time goes on, driven by conflict and climate change, while pollution poses additional challenges for human health and the environment alike.
Specific targets set out in SDG 6 for 2030 include achieving fair and universal access to safe potable water at affordable prices, providing equitable access to sanitation and hygiene services, improving water quality by reducing pollution and prioritising global recycling and reuse, increasing efficient use of water resources, ensuring sustainable extraction and supply of freshwater, and expanding international cooperation to developing countries.
In order to hit these targets, the pace of progress will have to accelerate six-fold for drinking water supplies, five-fold for sanitation and three-fold for hygiene… which is where sustainable water management practices will really come into their own.
Water Management Sustainability
The UN has predicted that the world will be faced with a 40 per cent water deficit by 2030 if water management doesn’t become more sustainable, with changes now necessary across all areas of life, everything from agriculture and industry to energy production and domestic use.
The aim of sustainable water management practices is to minimise water waste, reduce pollution, ensure safe access to water for all, take into consideration the views of all water users and ensure that water is distributed equitably within and between different countries.
A report published last year by non-profit advocacy organisation Ceres investigated the business vulnerabilities, opportunities and strengths in relation to water management, finding that just 35 per cent of companies consider contextual factors like regulations, local community water needs and watershed conditions when assessing water use risks.
Furthermore, just 14 per cent take contextual factors into account when assessing water quality risks.
And despite the fact that healthy ecosystems are necessary for maintaining the essential water supplies that industry depends on, just 13 per cent of participating companies had time-bound targets in place to protect and restore ecosystems with specific consideration of outcomes for aquatic biodiversity and freshwater supplies.
It was also found that just 28 per cent of businesses have established corporate policies that explicitly acknowledge water and sanitation as a fundamental human right.
And although approximately 50 per cent have board oversight of water management strategies, just 36 per cent integrate water risks and opportunities into business planning for their direct operations and the supply chain as a whole.
Co-author of the report Shama Perveen said at the time: “Companies must adapt their approach to water management to the changing state of water resources.
“Our benchmark provides a much-needed line of sight into where companies are on their water journey and what they need to do to accelerate and broaden their efforts to protect water supplies their operations and supply chains depend on.”
Businesses can also directly benefit from implementing such measures and thinking of water as a material risk, with issues like drought, flooding and scarcity potentially resulting in supply chain disruption, elevated costs and reputational damage, as well as changes in regulations over time that may have an impact on company operations.
The good news is that by prioritising sustainable water management, you can build resilience into your business and be as prepared as possible for future water-related shocks, while affording the natural world a greater level of protection and boosting your green credentials at the same time.
How Can Businesses Conserve Water?
Prioritising sustainable water management and improving your water stewardship is certainly achievable – and the first step is to understand what your overall water footprint is, evaluating water use across your supply chain, taking into account everything from raw material extraction to manufacturing and product distribution.
Once you know where you’re consuming water, you can then implement the most appropriate measures to improve operational efficiency and minimise waste.
It’s also important to build up a comprehensive overview of the risks that water stress and scarcity poses to your operations, giving you insights into the vulnerabilities that could potentially affect the resilience and long-term lifespan of your business.
Setting targets as part of your overarching strategy is key to ensuring that you keep water conservation at the forefront of your mind, whether that’s reducing your water consumption, looking into water quality and what can be achieved here or making your water-intensive operations more efficient.
Something also worth looking into is the idea of water positivity, where you work to reduce your water footprint while replenishing local water supplies and putting more back into the environment than you consume.
Microsoft, for example, recently committed itself to becoming water positive by 2030 and replenishing stressed water basins through wetland restoration, removing asphalt to reduce surface water runoff and investing in rainwater harvesting systems.
These are lofty goals and certainly something to strive for, of course, but the journey starts with a single step – and a great first step to take is having a water audit of your business site carried out so you can see how and where you’re using water. If you’d like to find out more about this kind of service, get in touch with the H2o team today.