While water is plentiful on Earth, the amount that we can access for business and personal use is scarce – and shrinking. In Part 2 of our assessment of SureGround’s “10 R’s of Water Management,” we will explore how specific companies in water intensive industries are managing their water risk and opportunities.By Thera N. Kalmijn and R. Paul Herman

In our last post, we explored how pursuing excellence in water management has the potential to deliver both Human Impact + Profit, and used Unilever as a case study of water management leadership in Europe.

In the U.S. companies are leading the way as well, and disclosing progress in their investor reports.  In 2008, Micron Technology won an Environmental Excellence award for using cold river water from an existing aquifer recharge system to cool its computer chip production.  Ball Corp. recycles 46% of its water, and Devon Energy reuses 80 percent of its water in manufacturing and production processes which avoids taking new water from river systems.

SABMiller also has operations in water-stressed areas and has been recognized for its water practices and goals.  Operating in South Africa where water regulation strictly protects ecology and community water rights, effective water practices and relationships with local governments are keys to sustainable operations.  SABMiller, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund, set a goal for water neutrality in South Africa and plans to reduce water use and earn “water offsets” by clearing thirsty non-native vegetation⁹. 

On the flip side, negative water impacts can be costly to operations and reputation - driven by not embedding water management more deeply into management practices and decision making.  In 2005 authorities in Kerala, India accused Coca-Cola of depleting groundwater and of polluting and eventually pulled Coca-Cola’s water license (rights), closing the plant and drawing the attention of global activists to Coca-Cola’s operations in other water-stressed areas of the world¹⁰.  Now, Coca-Cola is carefully managing its environmental reputation and has set goals for water neutrality and community water projects with the objective of returning an equal amount of clean water as is used in production back to the environment¹¹.

Levi Strauss has had its share of water challenges, with accusations of pollution by fabric suppliers in Lesotho in 2009, but overall the company is taking proactive steps to impact their water footprint – both upstream (50% of total jeans footprint) and downstream (45% of jeans footprint)¹².  Levi’s strategy relies on building relationships; creating and monitoring water standards for suppliers and taking a leadership role in partnerships with NGOs.   Levi’s works to influence water impacts through organizations such as the Business for Social Responsibility Sustainable Water Group, the National Resource Defense Council Responsible Sourcing Initiative, the Better Cotton Initiative, and Goodwill Industries (where people can “recycle” their jeans).  These more HIP management practices decrease risk, increase stability and enable companies to better achieve both Gain and Good.

The numbers prove out the attractiveness of water-reliant products and operations.  According to the 2006 U.N. Health Development Report, on average, every US dollar invested in water and sanitation provides an economic return of eight US dollars.   An investment of US$11.3 billion per year is needed to meet the drinking water and sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals - which can positively increase Health, Wealth, Earth, Equality and Trust -  yielding a total payback for US$ 84 billion a year. (World Health Organization. 2008. Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health).  Other estimated economic benefits of investing in drinking-water and sanitation: Health-care savings of US$ 7 billion a year for health agencies and US$ 340 million for individuals, 1.5 billion healthy days of children under age 5, enabling more time to learn at school and a more stable life and future.   In addition, leading companies are reducing financial risk and boosting bottom-line profits by efficiently managing water. According to the companies, Caterpillar has saved 11% in annual water savings, with United Technologies yielding 14% savings, and Abbott more than 20%.

The 10 R’s of Water Management provide a framework for creating gain and good in water-stressed environments.  Leading firms can realize higher Human Impact + Profit by serving these markets with water-efficient products, scrutinizing their operations for risk and reward, and embedding into everyday decisions the question - if water cost $200 per barrel or the faucet wouldn’t produce, how can this business make money?  The resources are all around us - it’s time to get on sure ground by being more HIP with your H2O.

For more information, please contact Thera N. Kalmijn, CEO, SureGround, at thera@suregroundsolutions.com (www.suregroundsolutions.com ) or

R. Paul Herman, CEO, HIP Investor, at Paul@HIPInvestor.com (www.HIPinvestor.com )

9.  “Water Footprinting - Identifying and Assessing Risks in the Value Chain”, SABMiller & WWF, 

10. “India:  Coca-Cola Ordered to Close Kerala Plant”  August 2005. Business Respect, 

11.  Coca-Cola CSR Report 2009

12. “Gap factory danger to African children”, Dan McDougall and David Watts, August 1, 2009, The Sunday Times