Targets
6.1) By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
AquaFed
Water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for human health, poverty elimination, and social and environmental well-being. The core activity of AquaFed’s members is to help governments meet Target 6.1 and 6.2. Extending services, and devising special pro-poor initiatives are underway in both developed and developing countries. In France, members (FP2E, Véolia, and Suez) are working with public authorities and local associations developing special tariffs and other systems to help people in economic difficulty to have secure water and sanitation services. Thousands of families have already benefitted from these. In countries including Morocco (LYDEC), Haiti (LYSA), and others, members have set up similar systems specifically to help people, with limited means, access services. They are also upgrading infrastructure and operating procedures to improve quality and extending reliable services to more and more people. Initiatives like this are helping millions of people worldwide. Other companies are involved in WASH in the workplace, an approach devised within WBCSD and now adopted by the UN Global Compact. Successes depend on Public Authorities working with Businesses. Between them they set specific targets for every case. Business can take the initiative and propose objectives. Legitimacy and leadership is given by governments.
The Gap Inc.
The Gap Inc., through a partnership with Swasti Health Resource Centre, is helping to build water filtration plants in rural communities in India, which are providing clean water to thousands of people. Three systems currently in operation already serve more than 5,000 households and 29 schools across 30 villages in India.
Procter & Gamble
P&G’s not-for-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) works with a network of 150 partners to improve the health of children in developing countries by providing them with clean drinking water. P&G is committed to fighting the clean water crisis in partnership with NGOs, governments, companies and consumers, with the goal of delivering 25 billion liters of clean drinking water by 2025. Since 2004, P&G has provided more than 16 billion liters of clean water to people in need around the world, surpassing their goal of providing 17 billion liters of clean water by 2020. The program provides an easy-to-use water purification packet invented by P&G scientists that can clean 10 liters of water in just 30 minutes.
Through initiatives like CSDW, P&G has reached its goal of providing one billion people with access to water-efficient products by 2020. Moreover, P&G has reduced water-use in manufacturing facilities by 27% per unit of production with conservation efforts focused on facilities located in water-stressed regions.
Cargill
Cargill promotes access to clean water in communities where we live and work.
For example, with the help of a partner organization called Isla Urbana, Cargill employees installed 155 rainwater collection systems in and Mexico, 143 in houses and 12 in schools. Each system collects rainwater from rooftops, purifies the water, stores it and connects to indoor plumbing. This also helps prevent flooding in the city. These projects were completed by 11 work brigades, with 196 Cargill volunteers donating almost 1600 hours and benefiting more than 3,000 people since 2015. Cargill has donated more than $211,000 for implementation of the project, which is an important part of the company's corporate responsibility strategy in support of local communities.
Cargill launched an initiative in 2017 in Indonesia working with CARE to ensure access to sanitation and safe drinking water facilities for 6000 elementary students, 300 teachers and 1,200 parents in two provinces.
HelloScience
Partnering for impact is at the heart of Novozymes’ strategy, and the company understands the need for collaboration to meet the UN SDGs. To encourage a collaborative approach around the SDGs with technology and knowledge freely being shared to solve big problems, Novozymes has created HelloScience. HelloScience is a digital open innovation and collaboration platform. The platform’s purpose is to facilitate collaboration and accelerate innovation with the SDGs as an overarching framework - and SDG6 is currently particularly in focus.
HelloScience was launched in September 2017 and has facilitated over 200 collaboration conversations between users from across 5 continents. It managed to attract more than 500 platform users in 6 months. The platform has 5 water challenges related to SDG6, to encourage meaningful collaboration and innovation. HelloScience is also embracing SDG17 Partnership for the Goals, by partnering with for example UNICEF and Grundfos.
So far, HelloScience has helped 6 collaborators, who have proposed promising solutions to the water challenges, with technology and expert business guidance. The platform is being redeveloped and will be relaunched in summer 2018, coinciding with the UN’s Water Action Decade 2018 - 2028. The relaunch will include a new set of water challenges and a smarter collaboration space. In 2018, HelloScience aims to initiate 3 impactful open innovation projects around SDG6.
6.2) By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
6.3) By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
Dow
ECOFAST™ Pure Textile Treatment is another example of Dow’s commitment. This product helps the textile industry tackle sustainability challenges by reducing water and dye use by up to 50 percent, and enables highly efficient use of process chemicals used to dye cotton fabric. Combined, this can help reduce the likelihood of pollution in wastewater streams.
AquaFed
Aquafed has a full "water cycle" approach to achieving the targets of SDG #6, which seeks to cover all aspects of the cycle from, "source to tap to source again." Aquafed and its members are involved in managing water pollution and recovering wastewater. An example of this is Aquapolo, a partnership between public organisations, SABESP, a private operator Odebrecht Amiental, and a consortium of Brazilian chemical companies. This project recovers wastewater from the city of São Paulo and de-pollutes it to a very high quality to provide feedstock for a multi-industry chemical complex. It saves water equivalent to the needs of 350,000 people every day, and the aim is to increase this value to 600,000.
The Gap Inc.
Gap Inc. is working with suppliers to address the use of harmful chemicals in the production of its clothes—which have the potential to be discharged into local water supply. The company has set an ambitious goal to work towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals (ZDHC) in its supply chain by 2020, through an industry collaboration – the ZDHC 2020 program. In 2014, the group achieved a major milestone with the creation of an industry-wide standard for restricted substances, which bans the use of harmful chemicals, particularly in fabric production. GAP has communicated this restricted substances list to the vendors, factories and mills that make its clothing and the company is in the process of creating enforcement mechanisms.
The company also works on environmental impacts through its Mill Sustainability Program, launched in 2013, which is focused on establishing clear environmental standards for fabric mills and integrating them into GAP’s sourcing decisions. To date, GAP has worked with 40 strategic mills to assess environmental performance, covering such issues as their water consumption, wastewater treatment and disposal, energy use, and the handling of waste and hazardous substances. GAP is also working with mills in China to participate in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Clean by Design program, which brings together a range of brands to better address the water impacts of fabric mills. The program has achieved significant reductions in water and electricity use, as well as wastewater discharge. Finally, the company’s Water Quality Program also seeks to protect water quality in its supply chain through monitoring the wastewater created by denim laundries and requiring all laundries producing for Gap Inc. brands to adhere to a set of industry-leading guidelines on water quality. GAP made these guidelines a requirement for doing business with its brands in 2010 and adopted more robust enforcement mechanisms for underperforming facilities in 2013, including having a third party verify their compliance.
Novozymes
Many of Novozymes enzymatic solutions help customers and consumers save water during application compared with conventional methods.
For example, enzymes can be used in the textile industry to combine processes and save significant amounts of water. Other Novozymes solutions help customers in the pulp & paper industry to address lignin toxicity in effluents generated during the production process. We also offer solutions for wastewater treatment and sludge reduction for municipal and industrial applications.
In China, Novozymes is working to help to solve water challenges in the south-eastern industrialized area as well as in the less developed north-west. Our microbial wastewater treatment solutions have been applied in factories in Ningxia, Shanxi, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, ensuring the compliance discharge of wastewater and improved water availability. As part of the goals in China’s Water 10 Plan, we are currently working together with partners to expand applications of bio-solutions into recovery and conservation of black-odour water bodies.
Philip Morris International (PMI)
Philip Morris International (PMI) recognizes that our environmental contribution to sustainably manage the planet's limited resources is key to our long-term growth, especially as we progress towards our vision of a smoke-free future. Using 2010 as a baseline, PMI was pleased to see a 17% reduction in water usage worldwide by 2017. In 2017, PMI joined the Alliance for Water Stewardship to guide its efforts towards water sustainability across its manufacturing operations. Building on the successful certification of its factory in Brazil in March 2018, PMI has committed to implementing the AWS standard across its operations, aiming to certify at least 10 more facilities by 2020, and all of operations worldwide by 2030. Developed by leading environmental organizations and launched in 2014, the AWS Standard not only covers water use in company operations on-site but also looks at the local watershed and community needs where the site is located. The Standard advocates a management system approach, leveraging on a multistakeholder framework, to achieve four outcomes: water governance, sustainable water balance, good water quality and habitat protection. We encourage other organizations to join the effort.
6.4) By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
Bechtel
Bechtel has helped Jubail, a 1,106 square kilometer (427 square miles) major industrial and residential complex in Saudi Arabia that accounts for 7% of the country’s GDP, address water scarcity and wastewater issues by developing a recycled water master plan. In addition, district cooling is being implemented to provide cooling for the Jubail University College and City Center, which will be fed by recycled water.
Bechtel is also working with Antofagasta Minerals on the Los Pelambres desalination plant in Los Vilos, in northern-central Chile’s Coquimbo Region. Since Los Pelambres experiences acute water scarcity at times, the desalination plant has been designed to produce 34,500 cubic meters (9 million gallons) per day of industrial water. Bechtel manages interdependent scopes of work such as marine intake and outfall structures; desalination plants; pumping system; and mining infrastructure. The company also creates integrated design parameters to eliminate interface risk in execution and operations.
Since 2000, Bechtel has delivered desalination projects that provide more than one million cubic meters (294 million gallons) per day of desalination capacity and more than 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) of pipelines. The combination constitutes what the company defines as Water Delivery Systems - large scale facilities to treat and transport water over long distances.
Philip Morris International (PMI)
Philip Morris International (PMI) is developing and executing a strategy to responsibly use the water it needs, such as understanding what water we need and how not to negatively impact the quality of water resources, ensuring Access to Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in all our facilities, and seeking partnerships and working with others to improve water stewardship. Furthering these principles through Good Agricultural Practices in the supply chain, PMI achieved a 24% reduction in water consumption between 2010 and 2015, beating its target of 20%. In tobacco-growing, PMI expects affiliates and suppliers to have a water management plan that takes into account the locations that are most at risk from water scarcity and promotes efficient water use and renewability of sources. These plans address the use and management of water to minimize adverse impacts to other users within water catchment areas, including local communities. The plans also cover access to adequate, clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning purposes for local communities, workers, and their families.
The Walt Disney Company
In 2014, Disney’s water consumption was recorded at 6.89 billion gallons. This falls slightly below the company’s baseline of 6.93 billion gallons. Disney continued to promote effective management of water use at existing sites while continuing to implement innovative conservation measures. In 2018, Disney exceeded its 2018 target to maintain potable water consumption at 2013 levels. Even with greater business growth than expected, the company reduced its water use in 2018 by nearly 6% compared to 2013.
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company has committed by 2020 to safely return to communities and nature an amount of water equivalent to what we use in our finished beverages and their production. Between 2005 and the end of 2013, through 509 community water partnership projects in more than 100 countries, partnering extensively with governments, other industry, communities and civil society, Coca-Cola balanced an estimated 68 percent of the equivalent water used in our finished beverages (based on 2013 sales volume), for a total of approximately 108.5 billion liters of water replenished to communities and nature. In addition, with partners across government, civil society and the private sector, more than $300 million in replenish programs has been invested globally. More information can be found here.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s understands the importance of water conservation for both its agricultural produce and the environment. Using the Global Water Tool developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the company is assessing water efficiency in over 25,000 restaurants and formulating solutions for improvement. In the US, McDonald’s introduced several adjustments such as low flow urinals and drought tolerant landscaping. To combat water scarcity in Australia, McDonald’s has deployed multiple initiatives including rainwater harvesting as well as water usage training programs for restaurant workers.
Pirelli
Pirelli’s 2013-2017 sustainability plan, which sets a number of targets for 2020, foresees a 58% reduction (from 2009 levels) in the specific water use ratio by 2020. Pirelli’s water withdrawal trend has strongly decreased, and improvement is expected to continue until 2020, with a target of 50% reduction by 2017 and of 58% by 2020.
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) knows that water is critical to its business, the planet and people around the globe, and that the planet’s usable water is becoming increasingly scarce. For decades, LS&Co. has worked to reduce its water impact, change how the industry uses and thinks about water and educate its consumers about the important role they play. To minimize water use in the production of apparel, LS&Co. designers challenged themselves to create the same great styles their consumers love using far less water. The result was a series of innovative finishing techniques called WaterWater to others within and outside our industry, and encouraging other denim companies – large and small – to use them in their production. LS&Co.’s goal is to increase the percentage of its products made with Water
Cargill
Water is one of Cargill’s four focus areas of sustainability. It is important to Cargill and the communities we serve to use water responsibly and preserve resources for future generations. Cargill first assessed water scarcity in 2007 to support the freshwater efficiency target set in 2005. We improved efficiency by 12 percent between 2005 and 2015. In 2015, we set a new target to improve by another 5 percent by 2020. We achieved a 2.9 percent improvement in fiscal year 2017 and are working toward continuous improvement.
For example, Cargill has deployed water reuse systems at many locations around the world, ranging from simple leak tag programs to more advanced treatment systems. Some of these include construction of a new zero discharge wet corn mill in India that incorporates advanced treatment systems to recycle all waste water generated and reuse it within the plant for cooling water and irrigation requirements at site.
Additionally, in order to leverage our expertise through partnerships, we are working with World Resources Institute and other partners through the Aqueduct Alliance to provide data-driven, high-resolution global maps of water risk, including operational and supply chain risks such as droughts, floods and water supply variability.
Nestlé
Vietnam to produce more coffee with less water
Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer and the world’s largest exporter of Robusta coffee, with 2.6 million people relying on the sector for their livelihood. Most coffee is grown in the Central Highlands, where agriculture accounts for around 96% of the region’s water use. But erratic rainfall, prolonged periods of drought and over extraction means that groundwater scarcity poses a growing threat to farmers, households and industry.
Nestlé has historically focused on implementation of good practices for sustainable water use in coffee irrigation within its Farmer Connect” network of 20,000 farmers. Since 2011, Nestlé has worked with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to improve irrigation practices with Vietnam’s coffee farmers, and educate those beyond its network about good agricultural practices and water management. The partnership now serves more than 50,000 farmers and by 2019 the project will deliver an action plan for water-scarce hotspots; an early warning weather system; a training programme with field schools and individual farmers coaching; and capacity-building for local institutions. Adoption of best practices will allow more sustainable use of water resources. Coffee farmers will save up to 60% of water withdrawals per ha of coffee per year. Also, farmers will earn higher incomes through cost reduction linked to labour and energy whilst ensuring same or even higher yields compared to the current average. A key success achieved through this project is the raised awareness about the importance of integrated water resource management and rational use of irrigation water for coffee farming. On a national level, the Vietnam Coffee Coordination Board has included water saving and monitoring of water resources in their strategic action plan, which directly feeds into the agenda of the Global Coffee Platform.
Nestlé
Integrated water stewardship programme at Henniez
2009, Nestlé Waters has introduced an integrated water stewardship programme at Henniez that strengthened earlier initiatives. The ECO-Broye programme combines environmental conservation with a commitment to work closely with farmers and other local stakeholders. Sustainable agriculture is practiced in an area of 120 hectares around the sources. To preserve the mineral water from the harmful effects of chemical products, the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and phytosanitary products is prohibited, which guarantees quality of the water. In addition, a number of biodiversity and reforestation schemes have been put in place. Some thirty-traditional species of fruit trees were introduced, including wild cherries, pears and plums, and old cereal species are grown, resulting not only in richer flora and fauna, but also generating additional income for farmers.
Since 2016, the water stewardship initiative includes working with the Groupe E Greenwatt, to convert manure collected from some 25 local farms along and coffee grounds from nearby Nespresso and Nescafé plants into electricity and heat. This effort creates power for around 800 households, meaning a saving in CO2 emissions. The majority of the heat is used by the neighboring Henniez bottling plant. These initiatives demonstrate Nestlé Waters’ commitment to water stewardship, not only protecting the resources of the regions in which it operates, but also supporting the adjacent communities.
PPL Corporation
PPL continues to manage its water use in an efficient way and monitor the impact of wastewater discharged into waterways. None of their water is sourced from regions with “high or extremely high baseline water stress.” All but one of the power plants owned by LG&E and KU Energy, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation, are located near the Ohio River, which is not adversely affected by droughts.
Additionally, PPL is decreasing water use and increasing power plant efficiency at their remaining coal-fired power plants in Kentucky.
6.5) By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
6.6) By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
Means of Implementation
6.A) By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies
IBM
IBM is providing Bangalore, India with Big Data and predictive analytics technology to create systems for monitoring and managing their water distribution systems. IBM worked closely with Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) to create an operational dashboard, based on the IBM Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) which will serve as a “command center.” Using a Geo Information System (GIS), the IOC will enable monitoring of water flow, with a real-time view of the flow meters. The BWSSB will receive information on the amount of water transmitted by each flow meter, the amount of water supplied to individual parts of the distribution system, the level of water in each reservoir or tank, etc. All data from each meter will report to a single dashboard.
Mcdonald’s
In India, McDonald’s has improved its business practices to prevent ongoing water scarcity. When harvesting rainwater, the restaurants’ direct the water flow into a storm drain. The rainwater then empties into a sedimentation or settling tank and finally into the water table via recharge pits of gravel, sand, and rocks that act as natural filters. McDonald’s India recharges 106,400 of water per year, using about 50 percent of rainwater that falls on the roofs.
6.B) Support and strengthen the participation of local communities for improving water and sanitation management
Ericsson
In Nairobi Kenya, Ericsson implemented the “Citizen Field Engineer” project, an initiative that uses sensors to monitor water quality and supply which enables community residents to govern, maintain, and repair the physical infrastructure for water delivery. In exchange for their monitoring, residents receive mobile credits, thereby providing a financial incentive to continue with their water management.