Water usage and pollution - SUM: Sustainability Management Wiki

Authors: Christian Pusch, Rike Kutscher, Charlotte Schrimpf, Sarah Riemer
Edited by: Vanessa Heidt, Anne Hovehne, Lea Neill, Annika Strehl
Last updated: December 19, 2022

1 Definition

Water, which is defined by the chemical formula H₂0 and consists of the elements hydrogen and oxygen, is an odorless and tasteless liquid that forms an omnipresent part of our lives.¹ The use of water has many facets to it. It can be found all over the planet, in seas, rivers, wetlands, the oceans and ice caps, permafrost, inside glaciers, in the ground as aquifers and in living organisms such as plants and humans. It can even be found above the planet’s surface in atmosphere within the air and clouds.²³ Water is essential in different aspects of life. For example, water is used as drinking water, for the preservation of nature and wildlife, and as part of the production processes in agriculture and industry and is therefore vital part of the economy. In addition, water is used for transportation and brings significant effects on cultural and social benefits.⁴ Not only do the world’s eco and food systems depend on water to survive and sustain themselves, but so does the human body itself. The average person needs to consume about two liters of water per day. Hence, water has become a central topic of development-related discussion among the nations of our planet, and unfortunately, as conflicts overwater start to arise due to the potential for water shortages in the future, these discussions are not always taking place in a friendly or peaceful context.³

Roughly 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, which consists of 97.5 percent saltwater and only 2.5 percent freshwater. Estimates conclude that only 0.007 percent of freshwater is accessible and ready for human consumption. Naturally, this water is also spread across the planet, which leads to some regions having access to more water and some to less. Regions with access to a very limited amount of freshwater also tend to have a very high and dense human population. With a growing population, the demand for drinkable water is only getting higher, and this will lead to more problems on both economic and personal levels. Because of the limited accessibility of water within regions, accessible water systems often get degraded through infrastructure, withdrawn into river flows, or polluted through industrial and agricultural processes. Reasons for this include failures in management and planning at a higher level.³

The concept of a water footprint, which describes the amount of water consumed within a production cycle, is closely linked to the concept of virtual water. Virtual water differentiates between three types of water: green water, which is consumed by rain-fed agriculture; blue water, which is consumed by industry and irrigated agriculture; and grey water, which indicates the volume of blue water required to assimilate returns of used water.⁵ Since virtual water concepts measure in volume only, the water footprint concept offers a broader application.⁶⁷ The combination of these two concepts allows to highlight both indirect and individual daily water consumption.⁵

While humanity uses water in many ways, it also pollutes the water it uses. Polluted and therefore harmful water has many causes. Groundwater can be polluted by antibiotics or herbicides during medial and agricultural use, rivers can get too heated by nearby nuclear power plants, and the oceans can be polluted by industrial waste.⁸ Pollutants that can find their way into any water source include radioactive wastes, sediments, detergents, fertilizer, pathogenic microorganisms, sewage and domestic waste, industrial wastes, heavy metals, mineral oils, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, acids, and alkaline compounds. These pollutants can be clustered into organic pollutants, inorganic pollutants, radioactive compounds, and thermal pollutants.³ Microplastics can be found in almost every body of water⁹ while agricultural and urban runoff are responsible for polluted lakes.⁴ While agriculture is one of the most important contributors to the global economy, it is also the largest user of freshwater and is therefore responsible for the degradation of surface and groundwater resources, mostly because of chemical runoff and erosion. Because the global population is expected to increase, the impact of agriculture on sustainable water resources has become a matter of greater concern.³ In addition, evidence shows that pesticides used in agriculture have a major impact on water quality.³ Although agriculture has a tremendous influence on water, it is, of course, not an isolated factor. Industrialization and urbanization are also causes of water pollution. Developing countries especially lack facilities and means to treat urban and industrial waste, which then gets dumped into unprocessed water. Industries and businesses may also discharge their waste straight into sewage systems or bodies of water, which further increases urban water pollution.³ In general, the pollutants that find their way into the water of any source can be clustered into four types: organic, inorganic, radioactive, and thermal (for example, pathogenic microorganisms, sewage, radioactive waste, or pesticides).³

2 Measures of water usage and pollution

“The reliable availability of sufficient and clean water is critical in sustaining the supply of food, energy, and various manufactured goods”.¹⁰ This chapter argues that biological and chemical characteristics in water can be measured as indicators for water pollution, such as biochemical oxygen and chemical oxygen. In addition, it discusses, concerns about water usage and availability. In this way, water stress and the so-called water footprint will be explained.

2.1 Biological and chemical characteristics

Today, it is possible to determine minimal concentrations of pollution in water. Even micrograms and nanograms per liter can be measured. Since scientific analysis has become so precise, it is possible to set stricter standards concerning the degree of contamination in water. This forces firms to perform in a more sustainable manner.¹¹ In the following, the kinds of biological and chemical processes that can be tested, and how they can be tested, will be detailed.

Plants and animals that live in natural watercourses crave organic and inorganic nutrients. Furthermore, they need oxygen to survive in their habitats. The oxygen that is dissolved in water is also demanded by aerobic bacteria, which biodegrade organic substances that appear in the water. This is why the amount of dissolved oxygen must rise according to the amount of organic matter that stays in the water.¹² The measure of the oxygen demanded by biodegrading bacteria is called biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). It is defined as “the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down the organic material present in a given water sample at a certain temperature over a specific time period”.¹¹ This is why BOD can be used as a measurement of the polluting capacity of an effluent. The BOD can be measured experimentally.¹¹Furthermore, the biochemical oxygen demand test (BOD-test) is used to determine the oxygen demand of the microorganisms present in a wastewater sample, which is stored in a sealed bottle at constant temperatures. The British Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal, founded in 1912, specified an incubation period of five days at 20 degrees Celsius for the BOD test. Due to the average summer temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius that prevailed at the time when the measurement method was developed, the incubation temperature was set. The incubation period of five days is due to the fact that the reference rivers in Great Britain take a maximum of five days to flow from their source to the open sea. However, an incubation period of seven days for the water sample has been established in Europe. This variation in the test allows scientists to begin their analyses on any day of the week. Complications caused by fixed working hours when running the experiment are thus avoided.¹¹

Another measure of a more chemical kind is the chemical oxygen demand (COD). Nesaratnam (2014) specifies the COD as “the oxygen needed to chemically oxidise all the carbonaceous material present [in a specific amount of water]”.¹¹ In the chemical oxygen demand test (COD test), wastewater samples are heated for two hours with potassium dichromate and concentrated sulfuric acid using silver as a catalyst. Consequently, the COD test is faster than the BOD test. It is also more reliable than the BOD test, as chemical tests produce more reliable results: the value of chemical oxygen demand is usually higher than that of biochemical oxygen demand. This is because the extremely strong oxidation conditions in the test can represent the oxidation of more organic and inorganic compounds.

The BOD:COD ratio is often used to assess the treatability of wastewater. For example, wastewater with a BOD:COD ratio of 1:2 is more biodegradable than wastewater with a ratio of 1:3. The BOD:COD ratio for a given waste remains relatively constant once a steady state is reached, although it may vary from one type of waste to another. COD-test measurements can be automated so that routine monitoring of the wastewater is often established once the BOD:COD ratio has been determined.¹¹

Other measures of pollution in water may be the concentration of calcium, magnesium, and iron (which results in water hardness) as well as plant nutrients, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and also radiation and microscopic species in water.¹¹¹³

2.2 Concerns of water usage and availability

In addition to biological and chemical indicators that measure the amount of pollution in water, the usage and availability of water can also be considered. One of these significant indicators is water stress. Water stress is the ability or inability to meet the water needs of people and the environment. It can be related to the availability, quality, or accessibility of water. Water stress in an area is assessed according to the following thresholds: The magnitude ratio of total annual water withdrawal to total annual renewable water supply, which is the basis for water stress, is high at 40-80 percent and very high at more than 80 percent; The ratio of water use to availability, which is also referred to as water depletion, is moderate if the depletion in dry years, at least 10 percent of the time, is a monthly depletion greater than 75 percent. Water stress is classified as high as soon as it becomes seasonal; in that case, the shrinkage averages are above 75 percent in at least one month per year. Once the shrinkage is continuous, the water stress is classified as very high.¹²

Furthermore, the water footprint of a firm or individual can be measured. This footprint measures the use of freshwater by looking at its scarcity and pollution in relation to consumption, production, and trade patterns.¹⁰ In 2002, Hoekstra published the concept of the water footprint. He developed the water footprint as an indicator of freshwater use that takes into account the direct and indirect water use of consumers or producers. “The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured over the full supply chain”.¹³ It measures the amount of water used and the amount of water polluted, as well as the type of pollution. The components of the water footprint are specified geographically and temporally along the product’s supply chain. Hoekstra (2002) distinguishes between blue, green, and gray water footprints. The blue water footprint measures the consumption of blue water resources (surface and groundwater). Here, consumption is related to the loss of water from groundwater in a given catchment area. This happens, for example, when water evaporates, flows back into another catchment area or into the sea, or is absorbed into a product. The consumption of green water resources (rainwater) is referred to as the green footprint. The gray water footprint, on the other hand, refers to the pollution of water. Hoekstra (2002) defines it as “the volume of freshwater that is required to assimilate the load of pollutants discharged into a receiving water body based on natural background concentrations and existing ambient water quality standards”.¹³ The water footprint is a comprehensive indicator of freshwater resource appropriation and is therefore distinct from the traditional measure of water withdrawal. As an indicator of water use, the water footprint differs from the traditional measure of water withdrawal in that it is not limited to the use of blue water, but also includes green and gray water. The water footprint thus better represents the relationship between a consumer or producer and their use of freshwater systems.¹³

3 Influence of firms on water usage and pollution

As many companies are dependent on water usage throughout their production processes, their volume of water usage is high, and how they handle this usage has a great impact on water systems worldwide, with consequences for people, animals, and plants. The following chapter provides an overview of the beginnings of legal water protection, which was prompted by a company’s malpractice, and offers insight into the influence of firms from high-impact sectors.

3.1 Overview

A good wastewater system is essential for ensuring an adequate water supply. According to UN estimates, 80 percent of the world’s water is returned to the natural water cycle without treatment, posing a significant health risk to approximately 1.8 billion people. In addition to feces from private households, germs and hazardous chemicals enter water through hospital waste and industries, including mining and workshops. However, corporations can also repurpose wastewater from themselves and other companies, saving resources not only for environmental reasons, but also reducing costs in the process. Possibilities include using water for cooling or heating and collecting rainwater from gutters for use in toilets and for watering.¹⁴

CASE STUDY DOW CHEMICAL

In 1970, hazardous levels of mercury from industrial wastewater were detected in the Great Lakes. In consequence, hastily businesses were shut down, fishing prohibited and surveillance processes expedited. The charges against on-site companies were the very first cases of environmental crime in North America. But Dow Chemical was legally innocent. The case inaugurated an introduction of laws in 1972 due to concern about water pollution and political insight into the necessity of regulating companies and controlling water pollution. Public pressure led to new managers and different production techniques at Dow Chemical. The dilemma was that the consequences were scientifically unknown, that there was no interest in research, and that it was not the damage caused but only legislation that could criminalize the organization’s behavior.¹⁵

3.2 Selected High-Influence Sectors

Water use and consumption is a very important topic for all companies due to increasing pressure from customers, society, politics, investors, and, in particular, young people—that is, the customers of the future.¹⁶ However, due to their enormous share in water use and consumption, both the textile and the agriculture and food industries and how they use water are often put in the spotlight.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹

The processes of companies in the textile industry influence water throughout the value chain.¹⁶¹⁷ Irrigation of cotton plants produces algae, which can clog the waterways into which they enter.¹⁶] Tanneries require an enormous amount of water,¹⁶²⁰ harmful substances they use for dyeing enter the cycle, and the washing of clothes carried out by consumers (when the clothes are not made exclusively of natural materials such as wool or cotton) leads to microplastics being washed out into food chains via water. As a result, clothing is the main source of microplastics in water.¹⁶

The fact that all stages of the value chain are impacted by how water is used highlights the need to conserve water at all levels of industry, from small local industries upward.¹⁶²¹ In 2015, water consumption by the textile industry worldwide totaled 79 billion cubic meters,¹⁶ with an assumed increase of approximately 118 billion cubic meters by 2030, while consumption of clothing is expected to increase by 63 percent due to population growth.²² Alternative figures for the industry’s annual water consumption range from 113 billion liters²²²³ to as much as 93 billion cubic meters.²² The majority of manufacturing countries are located in regions with high water stress, such as China.²² Through site selection, wastewater practices, and awareness, companies in the textile industry have the opportunity to improve their environmental footprints.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸²⁴ Changing to organic cotton, recycling water and using less fertilizer provide meaningful steps.²⁴ However, just under 5 percent of the participating firms at a CDP survey (2021) stated that they have implemented water protection goals and reported on their development in this regard. ¹⁷

The agricultural industry is the world’s major consumer of fresh water. While between 30 and 300 liters are consumed per person per day in the household, one day’s worth of food typically requires 3,000 liters of water per day ²⁴– and water consumption in livestock farming is growing steadily.¹⁹ It is not only the water and food consumed by animals that needs to be considered,¹⁹ but also the water needed to care for the animals, clean the facilities, and refrigerate the end products.²⁵²⁶

The majority of the water consumed by farm animals is reintroduced into the environment through wastewater and slurry. The latter contains environmentally harmful amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pharmaceutical residues, heavy metals, and pathogens.²⁷ Water pollution in this context can occur either directly through runoff from farm buildings, damage to pipes and storage facilities (thus seeping and entering freshwater), or indirectly through water runoff on pasture and farmland.¹⁹

There is also a major risk of water contamination during further processing. Contaminated water from slaughterhouses, meat-processing plants, dairies, and tanneries often contains harmful substances such as chromium and nitrogen, as well as large amounts of organic carbon, which leads to water having too little oxygen and thus endangering plants and animals²⁸ creating so called “dead zones”.²⁹ These zones can also occur because of nutrient contamination due to the overuse of fertilizers by crop farming companies.²⁹

Furthermore, erosion should be mentioned as another important consequence of agricultural and food operations. Erosion is not only caused by weather phenomena, but also by humans and animals.³⁰ Man-made soil erosion is occurring at a rate greater than the natural formation of soil, and many part of the world, such as Europe, the eastern United States, and Southeast Asia, among others, are threatened by soil erosion due to water.¹⁹³¹ The consequences of erosion are infertile soil, the dissolution of soil, and the formation of sediments, which are regarded as the most widespread consequences of agricultural water pollution³⁰ and which lead to rising expenses as more agricultural products need to be produced.¹⁹

Regarding fertilization and pest control, the agricultural industry, by overusing fertilizers and methods of pest control, not only brings financial losses to itself, but also causes environmental damage, especially for the water sector. While phosphorus reaches higher water layers, nitrate is washed into groundwater, and this problem is compounded by chemicals from pesticides and excessive water consumption. In some countries, such as India, wastewater is usually discharged by using it in fields without any prior treatment, with the result that soil, water, and cultivated plants are polluted. When the water demand of cultivated crops, together with that of the population, exceeds the natural amount of water, the groundwater level drops and increases water stress. This can be observed, for example, in rice cultivation in Punjab, India. In contrast, companies in the agricultural industry have a less harmful influence if they resort to growing more crops, optimizing the adaptation of cultivation times to the weather and changing their processes in order to minimize their water consumption. In addition, some businesses apply water less frequently to their crops and so irrigate in a more environmentally friendly manner. Together with reduction in use of fertilizer, this ensures that fewer nitrate-nitrogen enters groundwater.³²

Firms also have the possibility of managing their impact by choosing their crops according to the region they grow them in. Soybean is a case in point: while in South America rainwater alone is almost sufficient for cultivating this crop, nearly one-fifth of soybean is grown in places with high or extremely high water stress, such as the United States or China, and additional irrigation is required, with the consequence that cultivation is unsustainable and additional stress is placed on groundwater.²⁹

Another way that companies can control their environmental impact is their use of packaging and transport. Pulp mills for fiber packaging, for example, require a large input of water in production and use harmful substances, such as the bleaching agent chlorine, which can enter the cycle with high volumes of wastewater and contaminate nearby natural water sources.²⁹ The transport of products, unless done by walking, biking, or carpooling, always has a measurable environmental impacts.³³ A detailed review by Walker et al. (2018) summarizes how ships pose a tremendous risk to water quality, plants, and animals because of potential oil leaks, accidents with loaded pollutants, mishandling of wastewater and trash from the ships, and the transport of invasive species.³⁴ The transportation of products on roads can also cause water contamination due to oil spills, while creating roadways might lead to changes in shorelines and wetlands that lead to flooding.³³

Recent examples of the influence of firms on water usage and pollution are provided by Mar Menor in Spain and Tesla in Germany. Nitrates and phosphates from industrial agriculture have turned Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor, into a dead zone, killing about five tons of aquatic life.³⁵ The construction of the new Tesla plant in Brandenburg, Germany, highlights the importance of location factors. As a Gigafactory, the plant has a correspondingly large water consumption that is not factored into the local drinking water supply, and—exacerbating the problem—the plant is located in one of the driest parts of Germany. Now that construction of the factory has been completed, the local population face the possibility of future water restrictions, at least on days of intense production.³⁶

Corporate water management can help businesses decrease their destructive impact on water, as Zhang and Tang (2019) have shown, although pressure through policies or laws seems to be necessary for any substantial change to be made to how corporations use water.³⁷ Further information on this can be found in later chapters.

4 Influence of water usage and pollution on firms

Just as companies have a stake in water usage and pollution, water usage and pollution also affect companies, an effect which will be covered in this chapter. There are not only social and environmental reasons for the sustainable use of water, but also economic ones. Growing water stress—that is, increasingly difficult unlimited access to water—causes operating costs to skyrocket and can lead to production processes being limited or even having to be paused, causing further damage to business.¹⁷ Moreover, growing water stress also means growing competition.²⁹

Seasonal fluctuations in the water supply regularly reduce the company’s revenue at times.¹⁷ In addition, flooding of roads, company grounds, storage areas, and buildings can cause damage and make general operations more expensive, for example, repairs, maintenance, or special equipment. Furthermore, fines and penalties may be imposed in the event of inspections or investigations due to clear environmental damage, leading to costs, damaged reputations, and even closures.¹⁶¹⁷²⁹ An example of a legal basis for this can be found in Central Europe. In June 2021, a new law was passed in Germany. The “Lieferkettengesetz” (Supply Chain Act) obliges companies to take responsibility along their entire value chain for ensuring that no human rights are violated in accordance with UN Guiding Principles. This includes not only aspects such as child labor, but also sustainability and environmental pollution.³⁸

Consumers’ growing environmental awareness and interest in companies’ practices mean that wasteful use of water is likely to have a negative effect on sales volumes.¹⁶¹⁷²⁹ Overall, the CDP report indicates that the cost of doing nothing can be five times greater than when companies take water conservation action. As of 2020, the aggregate possible financial consequences of disclosed water risks were as high as 301 billion dollars, whereas interviewees indicated that the resources needed to alleviate these hazards were as low as 55 billion dollars.¹⁷ Although there are high regional differences between the continents, taking responsibility clearly provides a lower monetary risk for corporations (see figure 2).

Compared by sector, the monetary risk is the highest for manufacturing, with a cost of 191 billion US dollars, and the lowest for hospitality, with a cost of 0.16 billion dollars. The influence of water usage and pollution on infrastructure and energy companies, by contrast, does not justify protective measures insofar as only the financial dimension is considered. In these sectors, the estimated costs of measures are greater than the highest degree of possible economic effects.¹⁷

5 Specific processes, measures and tools for sustainable water management

Companies are required to act in an environmentally conscious manner. The use of management approaches aimed at the sustainable use of water as a resource is therefore in demand. Companies can reduce their consumption of fresh water and the discharge of pollutants into the water through efficiency measures. This can be done, for example, through wastewater recovery and reuse. Companies can improve the water quality of reclaimed water through treatment. Redesigning internal processes and promoting environmental protection measures in the areas where companies operate also contribute to sustainable, environmentally friendly corporate development.¹² In the following section, possible management approaches and tools that can support the implementation of sustainable management are presented.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) supplies guidelines for the preparation of sustainability reports by large companies, small-and medium-sized enterprises, governments, and non-governmental organizations. The GRI guidelines contain general documentation guidelines for the economic, environmental, and social performance of companies. With specific reference to water, it stipulates that total water withdrawals must be documented according to their source. The water sources that are significantly affected by water withdrawal need to be identified. Furthermore, the percentage and total volume of recycled and reused water is to be recorded in the reporting. Total water discharge by quality and destination must also be addressed, and the size, conservation status, and biodiversity value of water bodies affected by the organization’s water discharges and runoff must be designated.³⁹

Therefore, the GRI suggests the following publicly available and credible tools: for example, the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and the Water Risk Filter of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature help to assess an area’s water stress.¹² In addition, the Interactive Database of the World’s River Basins provides detailed information on river basins worldwide. Many companies provide site-specific information in their water reporting. However, they often do not have a common reference point for the locations they report on. For this reason, they often refer to the same location by different names or to different locations by the same name. The database allows watersheds to be searched by latitude and longitude and by that provides more transparency in corporate reporting.⁴⁰

Another tool available online is the GEMI Water Sustainability Planner. Its guidelines help companies generate a water strategy. The tool does not provide a method or calculator to measure or quantify water use, impacts, and risks, but instead asks questions about these issues. This is intended to help companies gain a greater understanding of water sustainability. The questionnaire includes five modules: first, assessment of water use, impacts, and sources; second, assessment of business risk; third, assessment of business opportunities and strategic direction and goal setting, and finally, strategy development and implementation. New, sustainable business goals should be established based on the questions and strategic plans developed.³⁹

The literature provides two approaches for achieving sustainable business goals in the context of water footprint reduction. First, in their paper, Hoekstra et al. (2019) examined how information on water and land footprint, as well as economic water and land productivity, can influence micro-level decision making in selecting agricultural plants in the context of sustainable resource use at the macro level.¹⁰ They conclude that the water footprint of a company can be reduced by managing at multiple levels, examining, for example, overall decision-making processes in a company. Second, Mohlotsane et al. (2011) take the contrasting approach of analyzing the green, blue, and grey water footprint along the value chain. They approach water footprint reduction from a supply chain perspective rather than a geographic perspective and thus address the management of a company’s supply chain.¹⁰⁴¹

Since there are chemical and biological ways to measure pollution in waters, as described in Chapter Two, there are also methods of chemical and biological kind for wastewater recovery and reuse. Nature-based solutions are both inspired and supported by a natural environment and use or imitate natural processes to contribute to better water management. Such approaches work with nature, not against it, and thus provide an essential means of moving past usual business concepts to achieve social, economic, and hydro-environmental efficiencies in water resource management.⁴² An example of a nature-based solution is a new method that was developed at the Indian Institute of Science. In this process, fluoride-contaminated water is treated with magnesium oxide. A significant advantage of this method is the harmlessness of the chemicals used. In addition, this method does not require any enrichment process, which eliminates the need to incinerate corrosive and toxic waste. The fluoride-containing magnesium oxide sludge produced by this process can be recycled in an environmentally friendly manner.⁴³

Besides a firm’s own ambitions to develop a more sustainable use of water resources, there are several regulations implemented by governmental and non-governmental institutions. They influence the water management strategies of corporations and their methods of wastewater recovery and reuse. These regularities will be addressed in the following chapter.

6 Drivers and barriers of firm action on water usage and pollution

Water is one of the most important goods in the world. Companies need water for their own machines and products. However, water is a scarce resource, so companies need technologies and strategies to conserve it. In the same way, politics must create regulations to protect water and force companies to use it more sparingly. In this context, civil society also has a responsibility to save water. Water can only be protected if people and businesses are shown how and why they need to conserve water.

As the first step, legal regulations to which companies must adhere must be developed. However, herein comes the the first problem:. there are countries that actually advertise their low standards in order to attract business from countries with foreign standards. However, multilateral agreements can be reached in some areas.

6.1 Drivers

6.1.1 London Convention 1972

One of the first multilateral agreements for the protection of the seas was the London Convention from 1972. This convention decided on the first regulations on which hazardous substances may not be discharged into the sea. In addition, regulations were established under which states that have ratified the agreement undertake not to pollute the environment and water of neighboring states. The parties should also seek regional agreements to protect the seas. However, these agreements must be in line with the London Convention. In addition, the London Convention laid the foundation for the establishment of the IMO (International Maritime Organization). The task of the IMO is the Prevention of Marine Pollution as far as possible (London Convention, 1972).

6.1.2 Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships 1973

Another multilateral agreement was the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships in 1973. In 20 of its articles, the convention contains basic information on the obligation of the signatory States to prevent the discharge of pollutants from ships. The details are regulated in two protocols and six extensive appendices. Protocol 1 regulates the mandatory reporting of ships discharging pollutants into the Sea, while protocol 2 regulates the arbitration procedure between contracting parties (International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships, 1973). The six annexes specify pollutants that may not be discharged into the sea by ships (International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships, 1973). One achievement of the states was the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from 1982. UNCLOS is a fundamental work for the protection of the seas and is also known as the constitution of the seas. It not only sets standards for the protection of the seas, but also contains provisions to ensure the sustainable development of the world’s seas. In addition, it contains specific penalties that may be imposed in the event of a violation of UNCLOS. The court responsible for this is the international tribunal for the law of the sea based in Hamburg (United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, 1982). From these global agreements, further regional conventions were developed, limited to individual continents or regions. A very important legal basis for the European Union in this context is the European Water Framework Directive. This aims to create a regulatory framework to direct the policies of member states towards more sustainable and environmentally sound water use. The directive is based on four elements. The first element is the biological quality of surface water. The second element is the prohibition of deterioration of the status of water. The third element is the so-called “good condition”. According to the “good condition”, biotic communities, structure, and, in the case of surface water, chemical constituents or, in the case of groundwater, chemical constituents and their quantity may only be influenced by humans to a limited extent. The last element is chemical quality, which refers to environmental quality standards for river basin-specific pollutants. For this purpose, the maximum concentrations of pollutants that may be discharged into the groundwater have been defined. If these are exceeded even slightly, the water body is not considered to have a good ecological status (Water Framework Directive, 1991).

6.1.3 Corporate responsibility

Politics has laid the foundation for the conservation and protection of water. Companies must be aware of their responsibility and develop technologies to protect water. Furthermore, companies must also adapt to social change. Through campaigns like Friday for Future, the younger generations are shown that there must be an ecological change. Water pollution by large companies is a problem, especially for the companies themselves, because companies that adapt to social change are respected in society and can enhance their image. Climate lawsuits are an increasingly important tool in this process. They force not only companies but also states to implement ecological changes. In recent years, in particular, such lawsuits have been crowned with success. One such case is the EU Commission’s action against Germany for the violation of the Nitrates Directive. The commission had already warned Germany in 2012 to comply with the directive (Nitrate Directive). The measures subsequently taken by the German government were deemed insufficient by the EU Commission. This was communicated to the German Government in 2014, when sufficient measures had still not been taken, and the commission was forced to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice and to sue Germany. Since then, Germany has been making efforts to comply with the limits. Even though it is still not compliant, Germany is stepping up its efforts and so , the outcome of this case can be considered a success.⁴⁴ ^] Furthermore, the German Fertilizer Ordinance has been tightened and certain types of fertilizer have been banned (Düngemittelverordnung, 2020). Another highly prominent case is the lawsuit filed by Robert Bilott against the US company DuPont. In this 19-year litigation, Bilott uncovered that Dupont was storing 7100 tons of a hazardous substance in a way that contaminated the drinking water of more than 100,000 people. Many people subsequently contracted serious diseases, including cancer. In 2017, DuPont was subsequently found guilty and had to pay a total of almost 753 million dollars in damages. It was also banned from discharging unfiltered wastewater and other waste into groundwater. The case was thus a successful one, sincenot only did DuPont have to pay damages, but it also had to acknowledge that it was responsible for the contamination of drinking water.⁴⁵

6.1.4 Technology development

Another step toward a more ecologically sustainable conservation of water is the development of new technologies by companies. This has several positive effects on companies. On the one hand, they can preempt the regulations and laws imposed by politicians and independently develop new technologies to comply with the regulations. On the other hand, a new economic market can be generated because companies can sell their newly developed strategies and technologies to competitors. Thus, the German company Geohumus was able to develop granules for storing water. The granules are superabsorbent and can reduce irrigation needs by 50 percent.⁴⁶ Siemens built the Kogan Creek coal-fired power plant in Australia. The cooling water used was recovered by condensers and reused. In this way, the freshwater requirement was reduced by 90 percent.⁴⁷ BASF is developing Rheomax DR, a substance used for mineral thickening in the mining industry. It facilitates water recovery at the thickening stage, and the recovered water can be reused in the process, minimizing freshwater consumption.¹⁷ L’Oréal the world largest cosmetic company, implemented the internal water loop standard. The internal water loop standard means that all process water is reused or recycled in a loop on-site. The use of wastewater eliminates the need to use the municipal or community water supply. Following the successful recovery of high-quality water, L’Oréal has further developed the system and now also uses it as a raw material for its Cosmetic formulas and to provide water, sanitation, and hygiene services to its employees.¹⁷ Nissan developed a process for rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling. This process makes it possible for the production site in India to operate for 130 days at a time without an external water supply.¹⁷ Such examples of innovation show that companies recognize the seriousness of the situation and are striving to do something about it.

6.2 Barriers

The development shows that both politics and companies recognize the problems caused by the pollution and overuse of water and want to prevent them. However, there are still barriers to this development. Socially, there are signs of a move to sustainability. However, it is suggested in the media, especially by politicians, that this change necessitates high levels of investment. However, these investments are also to be borne by citizens, which is why many people reject the idea of a more sustainable and ecologically sensible way of life on the basis that it costs money. Another problem that remains widespread is corruption. Specifically, this involves the bribery of politicians by companies or influential entrepreneurs in the form of money or other favors. In this way, Nestlé takes advantage of the unequal distribution of drinking water around the world. Nestlé influences governments, especially in the third world, to pump water as cheaply as possible. This water is sold to people who can afford it.⁴⁶ Another corruption scandal occurred in 2015 by the company Apa Nova, a subsidiary of the French water utility Veolia. Managers of Apa Nova bribed the Romanian authorities in return for a massive increase in the price of drinking water. In total, they increased the price by 125 percent, which also led to an increase in revenue.⁴⁸ A final example of corruption scandals involving drinking water is a case from Spain. Acuamed, the state-owned company in Spain responsible for building seawater desalination plants to produce drinking water, was the company behind this scandal. Contracts for the construction of the facilities were awarded to a few construction companies at high prices. The resulting profit was then divided equally between the construction companies and Acuamed’s managers.⁴⁹

Another major threat is trade and investment protection agreements. The possibility for companies to sue states arises from the fact that laws are passed that are harmful for the companies’ investments. Thus, the French corporation Suez was able to file a claim for damages against Argentina. In 1993, a consortium led by Suez was awarded a concession for water supply and wastewater disposal in the Greater Buenos Aires Area. This led to an increase in the water price, with an accompanying significant deterioration in water quality. In 2006, Argentina terminated the concession contract and once again entrusted a public company with water supply and wastewater disposal. Suez sued on the basis of bilateral investment protection agreements concluded with France and Spain, and the case was rules in their favor in 2015. As a result, Argentina had to pay almost 405 million dollars in damages.⁵⁰ Another case occurred in 2011 in the Canadian province of Québec. The provincial government placed a moratorium on fracking because of concerns that it would severely pollute the Saint Lawrence River. The Canadian Energy Company Lone Pine Resources Inc. (now Canadian Forest Oil Ltd.) filed an investor-state claim against this moratorium with an international arbitration tribunal, basing its claim on the NAFTA agreement. Since these special rights of action may only be exercised by foreign companies, Lone Pine Resources Inc. is suing through its subsidiary in Delaware, seeking nearly 200 million dollars in damages.⁵⁰⁵¹

Another obstacle to the effective implementation of water protection is the slow or inadequate transposition of supranational legislation or agreements into national law. One example is the inadequate implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in German law. The Convention on the Law of the Sea was intended to mitigate or prevent pollution of the seas by container ships. However, ships are international modes of transport (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). This means that shipping companies are free to choose their flag state, the state in whose shipping register the vessel is registered and whose flag it flies. For cost reasons, shipping companies therefore choose states that do not consistently implement international maritime and shipping law or prosecute violations less strictly. This is the main problem because states can only initiate punitive measures against ships when they call at their ports.⁵²

Another example is the slow implementation of the EU’s Nitrates Directive (Directive 91/676/EC) into German Law. Although the EU stipulated that the directive had to be transposed into national law by 1993, that didn’t happen in Germany until 1995. However, as early as 2012, the EU admonished Germany for inadequate implementation of the Nitrates Directive. Germany’s tightening was not sufficient for the EU, which is why it initiated infringement proceedings in 2016. The implementation of the Directive is due to several factors. On the one hand, fertilizer producers were allowed to sell fertilizer at a market that contained a much higher number of nitrates than allowed in the EU. Furthermore, soil cannot absorb high amounts of natural and artificial fertilizer. The animals that are kept in such farms by the tens of thousands excrete so much manure that the soil cannot absorb it. However, the tightening of regulations for factory farming has regularly been prevented by farmers’ lobby groups in Germany; consequently, Germany only wants to tighten its regulations when under pressure from the EU.⁵³

The example shows another barrier: lobbyists influencing politicians to prevent bills or regulations to spare their lobby financial damage; exemplary of these practices is the World Water Council., which was founded in 1996 with the task of ensuring a fairer and more equal distribution of water. Today, however, it is primarily large corporations that have the greatest influence within the World Water Council. Critics accuse the World Water Council of being a cover for the water lobby. This is based on numerous incidents; for example, the regularly held World Water Forum is attended exclusively by representatives of multinational corporations, influential politicians, and other officials. Criticism is suppressed and the groups most affected by water shortages do not attend meetings such as the World Water Forum.⁵⁴⁵⁵ In relation to this problem, it must be noted that the right to clean water has not been written down, and no head of government demands such a right.⁵⁶ The frightening result is that that water producers do everything to maximize their profit, without regard to human life.

Finally, another barrier is that governments and companies are sometimes extremely reluctant to develop sustainable strategies and technologies for clean water. Indeed, these new innovative, sustainable solutions and technologies involve financial and social risks. Social risks arise because new technologies and the production of new innovative products are expensive to produce and so have a high market price. These high prices leads to consumer resentment. In addition, there is always a financial risk for companies. For instance, the technologies they develop may not work as planned and need to be revised or even abandoned altogether. Some projects turn out to be too ambitious and cannot go ahead as planned. In politics, there is a problem of acceptance. Today’s national legislation is strongly influenced by higher-level institutions, such as the EU. This is because EU legislation has a considerable influence on legislation in Germany. Decisions stemming from this legislation can be extremely unpopular and create resentment among citizens. Furthermore, interest groups try to slow down or even completely prevent decisions that reduce their profits. Likewise, there is a financial risk for politicians because funding can be misused or used for the wrong projects. Moreover, promising technological approaches can be unusable. For these reasons, funding programs are frequently discontinued.⁵⁷

The following chapter highlights some companies and their strategies for sustainable water consumption.

7 Best practice examples

Since water is a precious and valuable commodity and a key economic factor, firms have found ways to increase water sustainability.⁵⁸

The Dutch oil company Shell concluded in their sustainability report of 2019 that the water consumption in various areas had gone down slightly in comparison to previous year. Shell tries to understand and ultimately reduce the impact it has on the local watershed. Their refinery in Pernis reviewed their water management and improved it by identifying essential equipment and management agendas. Where possible, Shell tries to use natural means to treat their water, such as wetlands, and develops new technology that allows them to treat, recycle, and use water from their operations. For example, a joint venture petroleum plant uses a natural approach to clean the extracted water during the production of oil. As an oil company, Shell also closely monitors low-level concentrations of oil and other hydrocarbons within the water, which get returned to the environment after treatment. In the same sense, ground pollution is monitored closely as well, and findings are shared transparently with the local governments.⁵⁹

The German car manufacturer Daimler is developing methods of analyzing their environmental impacts on a worldwide scale as early as 1999 with the goal of preventing harm to the environment in the future. In total, they have made five assessments of their production facilities, carried out every five years with the latest taking place in 2019. The methods were standardized and did not change in all five assessments, so the results remained comparable. Daimler concluded that none of the facilities of the car division posed a very high risk regarding water supply and the disposal of wastewater. While almost all the facilities had at most a medium risk, only one facility showed a water scarcity risk of 3.8. The correlating scale is defined from 1 (no risk) to 5 (very high risk). To achieve this, Daimler has also set a target per produced car in terms of energy and water consumption, as well as disposal of waste. In general, Daimler tries to close the water systems as much as possible, which means using closed-loop cooling systems and treating process water. Sanitary facilities are also equipped with water-conserving systems. Since every car has to undergo a rain test, it was decided to use a biological water treatment process that reduces the amount of harmful substances and allows the resulting purified water to be reused three times or more often. Daimler also either sends their wastewater to local treatment facilities or treats it on site. Water consumption per produced Mercedes-Benz car in 2019 could be brought down by 7 percent compared to 2013/14, while the goal for 2030 remains to reduce the consumption by 33 percent.⁶⁰

In 2015, the world’s largest travel and leisure company Carnival, announced its sustainability goals for the year 2020. One of their arms was to increase water efficiency by an additional 5 percent compared to 2010, as measured by liters per person per day. Since Carnival is providing travel via cruise ships, efficient water management is essential due to lack of access to facilities on land. Only 27 percent of the water used on board is supplied by ports and water companies, while the ship itself produces 73 percent of the water used during the voyage. The company declares that these percentages vary from ship to ship, depending on the route. It is also stated that Carvinal follows strict protocols to correctly dispose of wastewater and aims to increase the capacity of advanced wastewater purification systems by 10 percent in 2020 compared to 2014. Each new ship between 2015 and 2022 was built and equipped with these goals in mind.⁶¹

The multinational food and drink processing conglomerate Nestlé also aims to increase water efficiency to avoid costly relocations and to protect the future of Nestlé Waters. In general, this means lowering water withdrawals, planning water reviews and saving water overall. Nestlé also supports the initiative WASH, which gives vulnerable people and employees access to clean water and sanitation, impacting productivity by improving health. In addition, all factories located in Pakistan are members of the Alliance of Water Stewardship.⁶²⁶³

Chemical company BASF aims to lower wastewater treatment costs and environmental pollution through sustainable solutions within its products. A key element in this process is formic acid, which is an antifreeze chemical that has a much higher biodegradability and lower chemical oxygen demand. The company also hopes to increase sales and achieve greater growth rates on a corporate level.¹⁷⁶⁴

L`OREAL, the French personal care company, is driven by an increasing water scarcity to improve the efficiency of their water usage. They designed an internal “water loop” to process and reuse all water on-site in a closed loop. Ultimately, this has led to reduced costs of local water supply, and the installment costs of this loop are lower than those of the potential water-related risks.¹⁷⁶⁵

Driven by their internal “Green Program”, the Japanese car manufacturer Nissan’s factory in India was able to become independent of external water sources through the use of a developed method for harvesting and recycling rainwater. Ultimately, Nissan’s goal is to produce zero wastewater and reduce withdrawals within manufacturing processes by 21 percent. Nissan concluded that it could save up to 4 million dollars on water bills per plant through waste reduction alone. Factories in Mexico and India have emerged as focus points for the company according to water risk criteria.¹⁷

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1
Darling, S. B., Snyder, S. W., & Siegel, S. M. (2018). Water is: The indispensability of water in society and life. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
2
Dromm, Keith. (2014). Water, food, and agriculture. In P. B. Thompson & D. M. Kaplan (Ed.), Springer Reference. Encyclopedia of food and agricultural ethics (pp. 1829–1836). New York: Springer.
3
Jayawardana, J. (2016). Water Resource and the Aquatic Environment: current issues and options for sustainable management. Water Resource Planning, Development and Management. Hauppauge: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
4
Loucks, D. P., & van Beek, E. (2017). Water Resource Systems Planning and Management. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
5
Lane, A., Norton, M. R., & Ryan, S. (2017). Water resources: A new water architecture. Challenges in Water Management series. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
6
The Coca Cola Company, & the Nature Conservancy (2010). Product water footprint assessments: practical applications in corporate water stewardship. Retrieved on 08/08/2021: https://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/CocaCola-TNC-2010-ProductWaterFootprintAssessments_1.pdf
7
Water Footprint Network (2021). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved on 08/08/2021: https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/frequently-asked-questions/#CP30
8
Hüttl, R. F., Bens, O., Bismuth, C., & Hoechstetter, S. (2016). Society – Water – Technol-ogy. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
9
Wagner, M., & Lambert, S. (Ed.) (2018). Freshwater Microplastics. Emerging Environmental Contaminants? Cham: Springer International Publishing AG.
10
Hoekstra, A. Y., Chapagain, A. K., & Van Oel, P. R. (2019). Progress in Water Footprint Assessment: Towards Collective Action in Water Governance. Water. 11(5), 1-8.
11
Nesaratnam, S. T. (2014). Water pollution control. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
12
GSSB (Global Sustainability Standards Board) (2018). Wasser und Abwasser (Water and Effluents). Retrieved on 27/06/2021: GRI Standards German Translations (globalreporting.org)
13
Hoekstra, A. Y., Chapagain, A. K., Aldaya, M. M., & Mekonnen, M. M. (2011). The Water Footprint Assessment Manual: setting the global standard. Earthscan.
14
United Nations (n. d.). Water Quality and Wastewater. Retrieved on 14/08/2021: https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/quality-and-wastewater/
15
Müller, S. M. (2018). Corporate behaviour and ecological disaster: Dow Chemical and the Great Lakes mercury crisis, 1970–1972. Business History, 60(3), 399–422.
16
Scott, M. (2020). Out Of Fashion – The Hidden Cost Of Clothing Is A Water Pollution Crisis. Retrieved on 20/06/2021: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2020/09/19/out-of-fashionthe-hidden-cost-of-clothing-is-a-water-pollution-crisis/?sh=66482a88589c
17
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