The forthcoming Water and Business Summit which takes place over two days in London on 26th and 27th November will be addressing many of the key issues which are now confronting the UK water sector – with implications for both providers and users alike. Most businesses already know about carbon footprinting - some experts are now predicting that water will soon have a similar impact on business and its bottom line.

In an increasingly water-constrained environment, the sustainability impact of how businesses and organisations are managing – or not – their water use is now moving higher up the corporate agenda. According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the business case for responsible water management is an inescapable fact of business life. The availability, cost and quality of water at many points along the “value chain” including upstream (in the production and supply of raw materials), midstream (what businesses make from raw materials and other pre-processed inputs) and downstream – consumer requirements for treated and recycled water) impact the future of any business.

• Loss of licence to operate (where business water use competes with basic needs of local communities)
• Increased production costs (e.g. from decreasing availability and reliability of supply, declining quality, supply chain interruptions)
• Community and regulatory pressure –as well as brand image (e.g. highly public and politically charged disputes)
• Health of employees and consumer markets

The aim of water footprinting is to help organisations assess relative risk, prioritise water resource management, set useful strategic goals, and measure savings. Water footprinting will be explored in depth at the conference, with speakers examining how water footprinting differs from carbon footprinting, the main challenges organisations face in establishing a water footprint, where do responsibilities stop and what benchmarks have already been set by the innovators.

The latter includes Nestle, Unilever and PepsiCo, who are among the growing number of organisations which are now taking active steps to improve their water stewardship. As Starbucks recently found to their cost, coverage generated in British tabloid newspapers which said that the international coffee chain “waste 23 billion litres a day”  undoubtedly had a negative impact on Starbucks’ international standing as a responsible business.

The Water and Business Summit has brought together a wide range of speakersfrom organisations which have already spent time and money working out how they should be dealing with issues like increasing water scarcity, water footprinting and operational efficiency. Other topics to be addressed during the two-day event include:

• Water pricing and governance, the higher cost of water and its impact on business. With growing concerns about water resource and quality issues and complexity likely to drive up costs, the conference will also look at how to take an objective view of measuring the price of water and whether business should have a role in determining prices.
• How business addresses embedded water and supplier water management “beyond the factory gates”.  This looks set to become even more important with the advent of the upcoming EU’s flagship Water Framework Directive which will undoubtedly impact on a wide range of industry and business sectors.  Today responsible businesses have to be aware of both sides of the supply chain – upstream and downstream – and take steps to reduce water use throughout the supply chain.
•  Public policy dialogue.  A multitude of water issues material to business are decided by public authorities: ownership, pricing, usage rights, to mention just a few. What is the role of business in public policy dialogue about water – and what can business do to increase its influence? Should business be involved in decisions about prices?
• Water legislation: What should it cover? The latest news on potential changes to the legislative framework around water and how will any forthcoming legislation impact on business.
• New technologies: can new technologies realistically be expected to address world water shortage? Given that these solutions may mean greater use of energy and carbon, how can responsible carbon stewardship be balanced with responsible water stewardship.

Commenting at the launch, James Griffiths, managing director of Water, Forests and Ecosystems at the WBCSD, said

“ WBCSD has been active on water issues for more than a decade. As water becomes more and more scarce around the world, all business use of it will be affected, and expectations that companies demonstrate sustainable water use will grow. A robust platform for water footprinting involving different leadership groups – including business –is going to be essential.”

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