Happy New Year!

We were thinking about the 2020 Blog and could not ignore visibility needed for water management. The updated Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard 2.0 provides significant guidance for those organizations ready to contribute to addressing shared water challenges. Almost no matter where you are positioned, it’s hard to ignore water is a shared challenge amongst business, neighbors, local governments, and interest groups. There are a variety of water challenges, some of which include: floods, droughts, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, the need for more efficient use and discharge. We all need it and it is not always present in the right amounts in the right place and in the appropriate quality.

Organizations have traditionally worked independently to attack water-related issues. While these initiatives have resulted in efficiency and/or quality improvements, they are often limited in scope. There are numerous published articles indicating the next level of involvement is to expand sustainability efforts outside of the organization proper. There is a need to collaborate and partner with stakeholders. This is prescribed in the AWS standard and is a great way to address the shared water challenge.

For those organizations with an Environmental Management System, it can start with the process to enhance how aspects and impacts are identified and evaluated.  Just as we use risk assessment to prioritize health and safety issues, there is a place to apply this same process for environmental aspect purpose. Many organizations already use generic frequency, severity, and probability as “risk” criteria, but we see more organizations initiating a more robust analysis. A first step, consider upgrading your process to change how you evaluate and value water and shared challenges to gain greater visibility:

  • Include the views of interested parties in scoring. It’s the internal and external stakeholders who may not only have an interest but share in a challenge. Look outside at how a shared challenge impacts or is impacted by the organization.
    • For example, the organization physical boundary is a named river or creek. The organization does not have a discharge point, but stores materials near the boundary. Local government has established nature trails and the corridor is now a designated interest for a Friends of the River Trail. They are active in preserving and improving water quality.
    • Consider the impacts on quality of water.  Does the material storage have  release or emission potential?  Consideration is given not only to potential to exceed regulatory thresholds, but also how it impacts the community associated with storm water runoff. Material storage could impact water quality if released, but also may impact the aesthetics associated with a “natural area”.
  • Consider the impacts on quantity of water used.  Because of the ready availability of low-cost, high-quality water and availability of municipal infrastructure in many places,  there has been little incentive to reduce wasteful uses. However, there is an increasing demand on water supplies and need to reduce the strain on municipal water infrastructure.  Water uses could be ranked by their opportunity for improvement including reducing water losses (leaks), increasing water efficiency of fixtures, equipment and process and reusing  water that would otherwise be discarded or discharged.

Use 2020 to consider shared challenges and how to make a meaningful impact in taking action.

Posted in Management Systems