Everyone understands that water is essential to life. But many are only just now beginning to grasp how essential it is to everything in life – food, energy, transportation, nature, leisure, identity, culture, social norms, and virtually all the products used on a daily basis.
With population growth and economic development accelerating demand for everything, freshwater is becoming scarcer, and the full value of water is becoming increasingly apparent. Every human needs water, but how is water distributed fairly within a local community, and who decides?
Access to freshwater is a local issue. If you save water in one part of the world, it will not be made available elsewhere; and if you withdraw water and consume it, it will become unavailable for others to use. So companies not only need to think about how much water they are using and consuming, but also what the local freshwater situation is around their sites.
