Reduce water use in operations

- With significant drought affecting numerous parts of the world, catastrophic rain events becoming more common in other regions, and many global waterways impacted by serious pollution, water has emerged as a key strategic issue for businesses large and small. The Middle East, north Africa, and the western U.S., among other areas, have long been familiar with water shortages. Increasingly, shortages are occurring even in places that have access to relatively large amounts of water. China is facing severe surface and groundwater supply problems as it irrigates croplands to feed its people and run its industries. Even iconic rivers, like the Ganges in India, and the Colorado River, are impacted by drought and overuse. Companies around the world are increasingly hearing from their business customers, consumers, investors, and government agencies about the growing importance of water issues. And what are they doing about it? Well, numerous companies are finding ways to increase revenues by creating products that use less water, or that reduce customers' water dependency. Over the past decade, many businesses have enhanced their own bottom line by improving the efficiency of water use and reducing the discharge of water. On average in the U.S.A. and European Union, corporate freshwater consumption has dropped since 2000 in response to improved water conservation, reuse and recycling efforts, as well as the changing of product formulations that reduce water use. Following such successes, many other companies are taking a renewed and more coordinated look at their relationship to water, and discovering there are both expanding business opportunities and heightened water-related risks, particularly in their global supply chains. How do you get started in improving your company's water use? You begin by asking several key questions, and tracking the corresponding factors that most apply to your own business. Do you have a strategic plan that recognizes water as a key business issue, and manages it accordingly? All of your company facilities and operations rely upon water for production, cleaning, maintenance and grounds keeping. What's the annual water use of your major offices or operations? This should be relatively easy to obtain from utility records, or by installing on-site metering. If you rent or lease, ask the owner for records and metering information. How to vendors use water to produce, clean, maintain or dispose of your products or services? Do you include water as as a measure of quality in your vendor compliance and monitoring efforts? Do your products or services increase or decrease customers' water use? Would an investor consider water of material value to your company? Are you managing and disclosing your water use to shareholders? By beginning to ask these kinds of basic questions, companies have begun to manage water as an issue of real strategic and material importance. For a number of them, the initiative to manage water as a key business issue is driven by crisis. They were driven to action because of risks ranging from water shortages, contamination, changing public perceptions of corporate use of water, and questions from investors. Don't let water sneak up on you. Ask yourself the questions we've outlined here in this video, and begin to manage water as an issue of real concern to the company. For many viewers of this course, your long-term business success depends on it.