How Can A Company Impact Global Water Usage?
If you had a conversation with a company executive and asked him to justify the company's pursuit of sustainability
, what would the conversation focus on? You are right, energy efficiency and carbon emissions would be at the core of the conversation. There's been so much publicity over this subject, over the years, based on a cutback in consumption and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon emissions around the world must be, quite rightly, the focus of corporate attention. However, global water usage is also unsustainable and could, in fact, turn out to be an even larger problem than greenhouse gas emissions. Many experts believe that we will run out of water on our current path way before we deplete our nonrenewable fuel sources.
A trusted watchdog organization, the 2030 Water Resources Group, estimates that our global water requirements will increase by 50% in the next 20 years. If we don't make efforts to cut back, they say that this will represent 40% more than our ability to supply, a sobering thought.
In terms of global water usage, industrial and commercial use accounts for about 20% of the total. This is expected to double in the next twenty years. While it's true that agriculture remains the largest consumer of water around the world, corporations can make a significant difference if they integrate water sustainability into the mix.
While it is sometimes difficult to persuade businessmen to look way beyond their borders, a concerted effort could make an aggregated difference, in a similar way to carbon mitigation. It is, however, alarming to hear that emerging countries such as China are expected to account for about 50% of the additional industrial global water usage through 2030.
The Water Resources Group gives as a stark reminder how inefficient we are, most especially when it comes to our corporate contribution to global water usage. In the 15 years ending in 2004, water usage efficiency increased by a paltry 1%. Little publicity is given to these statistics. Just imagine how much outcry there would be if our rate of carbon emission efficiency was so pitiful?
Looking at the bigger picture, we should understand that energy and water should be inexorably linked. Did you know that in the industrial sector, 50% of global water usage is linked to the production of energy?
Agricultural production is guaranteed to increase, as the world's population grows in an unsustainable way. There will be an exponential increase in the amount of global water usage in that sector. More pressure will be brought to bear on the commercial, domestic and industrial sectors to cut back even further on this scarcest of all commodities.
by: Daniel Stouffer..
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