Reputation Management

As high water usage operations come under greater public, government and media scrutiny, companies that rely on significant water resources as part of their core activities are starting to take proactive initiatives to manage their reputations. Through developing and sharing global water policies, taking forward looking positions on the global and local challenges and explaining how and where they are seeking to minimise water use and waste, organisations such as Severn Trent, Nestlé and Coca Cola are taking the lead.

In the utilities sector where water wastage from leaking pipes is a common, UK based Severn Trent Water has been pioneering a number of water management and purification services including the BalPure ballast water treatment system

Oil production from Canada’s oil sands is a major concern for energy companies such as Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Chevron: Every barrel of oil extracted requires two to four barrels of water for processing. In the last three decades alone, stream flows have declined 30 percent from the Athabasca River watershed.

Bottled water companies have recognized the role that new thinking can play in protecting their commercial product. Nestlé has worked with neighbouring landowners to protect watersheds and sensitive areas crucial to ensuring high quality source water in a cost-effective manner.

As well as highlighting the issue of water supply risk in its annual sustainability reports, in 2007 Coca Cola started to explain the relationship between water and its core business functions in its 10-K SEC filings. The company, which uses 300bn litres of water a year, has set the ambition to become water neutral and by 2010 to have 100 percent of facilities returning water used in manufacturing processes back to the environment at a level that will continue to support aquatic life.