2Sustain

Water concerns are becoming more and more globally integrated and complex, and many corporations are now seeking out cooperative partnerships to help mitigate the increasing threat of water risks.

Here’s an example: Just last week, The Coca-Cola Company and The Nature Conservancy announced the release of a water footprint report, entitled Product Water Footprint Assessments: Practical Application in Corporate Water Stewardship. Released in conjunction with World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, this report details three pilot studies that were conducted on Coca-Cola products and ingredients.

Water footprint assessments like this one provide valuable insights into water use throughout the supply chain, including both direct and indirect water use and the impacts of use on local watersheds and communities. Those insights can then open new opportunities for companies to enhance their water stewardship, while mitigating the risks associated with water scarcity.

For instance, in this particular study, Coca-Cola and the Conservancy found that the largest portion of the product water footprints assessed in the pilot studies comes from the field –not the factory.

“We see significant opportunity to engage more directly with our agricultural suppliers to advance sustainable water use for the cultivation of ingredients in our supply chain,” Denise Knight, Water and Sustainable Agriculture Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said in a press release. “Our initial efforts will focus on the sustainable sourcing of sugarcane, oranges and corn.”

Water footprints typically identify three types of water: (more…)

By 2050, 14 US states will be facing an extreme or high risk to water sustainability, or are likely to see limitations on water availability, based on new estimates from a report released this week by Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The 14 states cited in the report are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

As you can see from that list, the research predicts that the Great Plains and Southwest United States will be the regions most affected, and the report specifically identifies more than 1,100 counties at-risk –and more than 400 counties at extremely high risk –for water shortages by mid-century. Obviously, water shortages in these regions will significantly impact US crop production. In an earlier study from 2007, researchers found that the value of the crops produced in the at-risk counties exceeded $105 billion. (more…)

Will your company be able to operate successfully in a water-constrained world? Do you know your water footprint?

Those are questions you need to be thinking about because according to the United Nations, by 2030 almost half of the world population will live in areas facing water stress or water scarcity.  Already, less than 1% of the world’s water is easily accessible fresh water, and in the future, this valuable limited resource will be facing even more pressure from: (more…)