What Every CEO, Business Leader, Investor and Policymaker Should Know About Water:
Water Risk Mitigation and Exposure to Risk
New
research warn businesses and investors about growing water scarcity
impacts from Climate Change. Climate risks mean new problems for
vulnerable sectors, including Electric Power, High-Tech, Agriculture
and Beverages.
Water Scarcity and Climate Change; Growing Risks for Business and Investors, February 2009: Ceres Report.
Water
risk mitigation and crisis management is a major issue for the private
and public sector. The rate of pollution of water resources, water
scarcity, natural and intentional contamination of drinking water and
distributions systems, floods and droughts, challenge companies and
communities to take steps to ensure that water risks are managed
effectively. Integrated water risk management is becoming a
high-profile business issue and companies are becoming increasingly
exposed to a range of water risks, through their clients, suppliers, or
others with a water footprint along the supply chain.
Business
risk exposure can materialize if water risks are not managed,
addressed, and understood properly. Water users need to detect and
identify water risks, mitigate risk exposure and seek solutions to
eliminate, respond and manage risks and crisis. Better management is
emerging. The risk and crisis management can be grouped into the Commercial, Political,
Legal regulatory and Contractual, Resource and Reputation.The business categories include firms, suppliers, financial institutions and water infrastructure and services.
Businesses
are finding themselves under a growing obligation to disclose and
justify their water use and impact – at all stages of production,
consumption, and disposal. Some of the key factors have been a growing
public environmental awareness and a greater understanding of the
critical role of water in different economic and commercial facets of
life.
These obligations and factors have translated into real business tangibles including:
Concerns about potential water shortages; Natural or intentional contamination of drinking water and supplies;
Growth of shareholder activism leading to greater corporate disclosure and transparency around new material risk issues;
Growing public pressure on firms to embed Corporate Social Responsibility disciplines in their core business lines;
Public policy issues such as influential agencies of codes of good practice and guidelines.
For the past thirty-five years, Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments have worked diligently to identify and address water pollution problems. This effort has made our drinking water safer, improved the quality of rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, and protected critical wetlands.
Today, the scientific consensus on climate change is changing our assumptions about water resources. Over the coming years, we in the United States can expect:
Shorelines to move as a result of sea level rise;
Changes in ocean chemistry to alter aquatic habitat and fisheries;
Warming water temperatures to change contaminant concentrations in water and alter aquatic system uses;
New patterns of rainfall and snowfall to alter water supply for drinking and other uses leading to changes in pollution levels in aquatic systems;
More intense storms to threaten water infrastructure and increase polluted storm water runoff.
There remains significant uncertainty about the exact scope and timing of climate change–related impacts on water resources, but the National Water Program and its partners need to assess emerging climate change information, evaluate potential impacts of climate change on water programs, and identify needed responses.
This National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change is an initial effort to evaluate how best to meet our clean water and safe drinking water goals in the context of a changing climate. The ideas and response actions outlined here are the product of a cooperative effort among EPA water program managers in national and Regional offices. The EPA Office of Air and Radiation and Office of Research and Development provided valuable support for this work. A wide range of stakeholders participated in initial “listening session” meetings.
A changing climate in the years ahead will raise new challenges for improving the quality of the Nation’s waters. This Response to Climate Change starts us in the direction of understanding and addressing these challenges. I hope that you will join us in making this important work a success.
Climate change is likely to have a range of impacts on water resources including:
Increases in certain water pollution problems;
Changes to availability of drinking water supplies; and
Significant collective impacts on coastal areas.
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation:
The largest sources of emissions and potential reductions of greenhouse gases are from the industry, electricity generation, and transportation sectors.
The Private Sector Can:
Take timely and practical action;
Coordinated effort to reach sustainable results;
Improve resource efficiency to reduce carbon footprint.
Strategy should focus on specific response actions in five areas:
Water, energy and climate change are inextricably linked. If we truly want to find sustainable solutions, we must ensure that we address all three in a holistic way. They are pieces of the same puzzle and therefore it is not practical to look at them in isolation. The search for solutions is complicated because water, energy and climate change are each complex. Examining their interrelationship further complicates the discussion but we must if we are to take the next step toward a sustainable society. They also touch all parts of our culture and are interconnected with other issues, such as our values, ecosystems and livelihoods.
To make meaningful progress, we must acknowledge this complexity and use it to our advantage. When you have an energy problem, you most certainly have a water problem. It works the other way, too. And if you are concerned about climate change, you are actually concerned about both energy and water – whether you know it or not.
Just as the issues are interconnected, so are the solutions. For example, we know that municipal wastewater is not waste at all. The water can be reused, and the solid waste can be used as a source of energy and fertilizer. By taking a holistic view of the situation, we can find solutions that address both water and energy concerns.
The business community is committed to this effort. Many leading companies around the world are already hard at work trying to find solutions to water and energy challenges. We are innovating and researching,developing technologies and looking for new approaches. But in order to succeed we need support and collaboration from legislators, policy-makers, civil society and academics.
This is a call for more research and increased knowledge sharing between the many experts now working separately on water and energy issues in universities, non-governmental organizations, industries and government. Together we can break down the silos and develop solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
Safer water for better health -- the first-ever report depicting country-by-country estimates of the burden of disease due to water, sanitation and hygiene highlights how much disease could be prevented through increased access to safe water and better hygiene.
This comprehensive overview provides the epidemiological evidence and economic arguments for fully integrating water, sanitation and hygiene in countries' disease reduction strategies -- a pre-requisite to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It also provides the basis for preventive action by all relevant sectors managing critical water resources and services in support of public health efforts.
Lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene remains one of the world’s most urgent health issues. Are targeted modifications of our environment sound actions for sustainable disease prevention? Do healthy environments alleviate the burden weighing on our health-care system in a cost-effective way? What investments and recurrent expenditures are needed? And what financing arrangements are effective? Answers to these questions help to build the case for integrating targeted environmental management action into a country’s disease reduction and health promoting strategies.
This document summarizes the evidence and information related to water and health in a broad sense - encompassing drinking-water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and the development and management of water resources. It collects the ingredients that support policy decisions, namely the disease burden at stake, the effectiveness of interventions, their costs and impacts, and implications for financing.
This summary is part of a larger effort to highlight the role that healthy environments can play in interrupting transmission pathways, preventing disease and reducing the disease burden, at the global, regional and country level. A more comprehensive estimate addressing the total environment suggests that about one quarter of the global disease burden could be prevented by healthier environments (1). In this context, WHO has also developed 192 country profiles of environmental burden of disease to map out opportunities for preventive action (2).
One tenth of the global disease burden is preventable by achievable improvements in the way we manage water. Cost-effective, resilient and sustainable solutions have proven to alleviate that burden. Action is required to ensure these are implemented and sustained worldwide and especially to the benefit of the most-affected population – children in developing countries.
Water-related improvements are crucial to meet the Millennium Development Goals, reduce child mortality, and improve health and nutritional status in a sustainable way. In addition, they induce multiple social and economic benefits, adding importantly to enhanced well-being. Almost one tenth of the global disease burden could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene and management of water resources.
“As water is essential to life, lack of water can undermine human security. The international community should now redouble its efforts in this sector.” Water – A G8 Action Plan, adopted at the 2003 Summit in Evian, France.
The G8 committed at the 2003 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, to strengthen efforts to address water and sanitation challenges and adopted the G8 Water Action Plan. At the 2008 G8 Summit in Hokkaido-Toyako, G8 Leaders asked for a progress report on the Water Action Plan . This report has been prepared by G8 water experts in response to this request.
Water supply, sanitation and sound water resources management and development underpin attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and other internationally agreed development targets. While progress has been made to meet the internationally agreed goal1 on water, nearly one billion people still lack safe drinking water. The world is off-track to meet the internationally agreed goal on sanitation2 with about four out of every ten people on the planet - 2.5 billion - lacking adequate sanitation facilities. In particular, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are off-track to meet these targets. There is also increasing pressure on freshwater resources from demographic and climate change that impacts on social and economic development.
The Water Action Plan provided political impetus for greater engagement from G8 countries and articulated five areas of support to tackle water and sanitation issues. At subsequent G8 Summits, further commitments were made. At Gleneagles in 2005, the G8 reiterated its commitment to the Water Action Plan and to the G8-Africa Action Plan launched at the Kananaskis Summit in 2002. In the Hokkaido-Toyako Summit, the Leaders acknowledged the cross-sectoral nature of water, highlighted the importance of integrated water resources management and good water cycle management and called for the prioritization of sanitation.
Advanced Technology Center for Water, ATC
ATC delivers speed-to-market new-technology solutions to the private sector worldwide. Our team of experts and local working groups have developed a unique collaboration platform to deliver effective solutions and technology transfer at local level and global scale.
We focus on water quality and water supply issues, identify
and assess the most relevant risks for the business community, and suggest
actions companies can and should take and empower individuals with knowledge how to implement practical new-tech solutions.
Ultimately, we deliver focused, simple, and affordable new-technology
tools, methods and practices, for sector- and
industry-specific water risks.
In recent years, experts in the public and the private sector have
reviewed the likely impacts of climate change on water resources and have
concluded that climate change is likely to have a range of impacts on freshwater
resources including changes to availability of water supplies, increases in
specific water pollution problems, and significant impacts on coastal areas.
Declining water quality, availability of clean and safe drinking water, and
water stress has emerged as a critical issue affecting economic activity,
development, and business operations around the world. Small to multinational
corporations have faced and will face business interruptions, closure of
factories, or changes to operations because of poor water quality and
insufficient access to freshwater.
Effective risk management program is a vital and invaluable resource to
help the business and investment community, as well as policymakers to
understand and address the growing risks posed by water quality and water
stress.
We
encourage greater corporate attention to water risk
and resource efficiency, and industry and geographic locations specific
to
PPP's for efforts to address these issues. Business leaders and
policymakers
seeking expert advice, as well as opportunities can join our local
working groups to learn how they can implement new-technology solutions
to mitigate water risk
and improve resource efficiency. We provide effective new-tech tools,
solutions, training and contacts enabling companies, institutions and
policymakers to take action to protect their companies,
investors, communities,
and ultimately the planet from the increased risks posed by global
water
quality and resource problems. International New-Technology Marketplace for Water
ATC EU is a vibrant must visit business to business mart. It delivers a
diverse range of new-technology solutions, companies and professionals
to international customers. It is a place for the experts, leaders and
learners to meet, collaborate, learn, trade, network, negotiate and
conduct
business 'under one roof'. ATC is located in Finland, a convenient
gateway between East and West.
Companies and organizations can
efficiently, effectively and productively find solutions and gain
immediate competitive advantage for their business and stay abreast
with the latest developments in water technology. ATC brings
together worldwide buyers and sellers from every industry, and make
speed-to-market solutions easily available to the buyers. ATC plays
an integrated role in structured global technology transfer, education, training, promotion, and support.
ATC business partners are the
leading experts in water risk mitigation and crisis management, and
resource efficiency. These companies and individuals have, through
agreement with H2oAlliance Global, committed to providing their
solutions, products and services to industrial water users and water
suppliers in the developed and developing countries.
ATC
brings
together experts, leaders, and learners from around the world.
This independent global business center serves customers throughout
the Americas, Europe, Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
It generates business opportunities to all partners and organizes a
wide
range of events, including conferences, congresses and meetings. ATC's
portfolio of products, services and events serves diverse industry
sectors.
ATC
works closely with companies, professional bodies, trade associations,
governments and NGO's. It is part of H2oAlliance Global, a strategic
global initiative, and a business venture, for integrated water quality
and resource management, research projects, technology, innovation, and
science.
While
declining water quality and water scarcity will affect water-intensive
business sectors in particular, these problems will also have
implications for all businesses, especially those that rely heavily on
freshwater in their supply chain.
Effective water management
plans, programs and policies are vital and invaluable resource to help
the communities, businesses, investors, as well as policymakers to
understand and address the growing risks posed by declining water
quality and water stress.
Through integrated and
independent business approach, ATC is pioneering to serve the global
water market demonstrating tremendous benefits to companies and
communities. The following water market sectors are our prime focus:
