At a time when demands on water resources are increasing, many businesses are looking for best practice solutions to make themselves more resilient. Nowhere is that truer than in the bottled water industry.
Water efficiency has been historically strong within the industry and operators understand that sources need to be managed responsibly to maintain consistent quality and quantity of their supplies. Many operators are now looking to Water Stewardship as a way to enhance their sustainability commitments and build a positive environmental reputation, whilst further improving resilience and the pressures on their finite water resources.
Adopting an internationally recognised water stewardship standard, whether that is the  AWS standard, EWS standard or any other, is about more than just complying with the local regulatory requirements and protecting personal water supplies. Understanding the way that water is managed at both a site and catchment scale and looking for real opportunities to address shared water challenges, are all steps towards good water stewardship.
Water stewardship promotes collaborative approaches to addressing shared water risks, promoting good water governance, and ensuring the responsible sharing of water resources in the interest of both water users and the environment. Water stewardship is applicable to operators in every country around the world. In the UK, it may provide a vehicle for abstractors in stressed catchments to explore opportunities where there is limited water availability and pressures on natural water systems. A collaborative approach could promote ‘trading of water rights’, to open up water availability to those that need it; whilst recycling, re-use and treatment of water are all ways to reduce the pressures of abstraction and improve the quality of effluents that are discharged back to the environment.
As a team of expert water scientists, they recognise the opportunities that water stewardship can offer their clients; reputational benefits, collaboration, and the opportunity to develop best practice to efficiently manage their finite water resources. Envireau Water are actively supporting several clients to achieve and maintain AWS certification. If you are interested in the range of benefits water stewardship could provide your business, please get in touch with PhilHam@envireauwater.co.uk to discuss your options.
