How Can You Help Your Supply Chain Handle Water Stress?

Water stress is an issue that is increasingly affecting the UK. While the winter may have brought persistent rain and floods, just as it did a year ago, few will be surprised if another record-breaking hot summer leaves the reservoirs running low in a few months.

If this is to be the ‘new normal’ amid a changing climate and growing demands on water from a rising population and even new industries (such as data centres), it will be impossible to ignore. A significant and far-reaching response will be required.

Some may see positive signs in this direction in the form of government backing for the construction of nine new reservoirs in England, all based in the Midlands, south and east, where rainfall levels are lower. But this barely scratches the surface.

Part of this is because much more needs to be done to protect supplies in the UK, such as reducing leaks, increasing efficiency and deploying smart means of using resources such as grey water in toilets. But there is also a global element that impacts supply chains.

How Bad Is Global Water Stress Getting?

A recent analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian mapped out the global problems with water, demonstrating some startling findings. The primary revelation was that half of the world’s largest cities are suffering from some level of water stress.

Key details included:

•       In 38 of the 100, the water stress levels are classed as “extremely high”
•       Tehran, Cape Town and Chennai have all come close to ‘day zero’, where there is no water supply at all.
•       The drying is most prominent in the continental part of Asia.
•       Some cities are getting wetter, with almost all of these being in sub-Saharan Africa, the only exceptions being Tokyo, and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
•       Around 1.1 billion people live in urban areas with major drying trends, whereas only 96 million live in cities getting significantly wetter.

It is such findings that have led to the UN declaring that the world is now in a state of ‘water bankruptcy’.

This also raises a difficult question when it comes to your company’s supply chain. What if some of the products you rely on are imported from water-stressed countries and droughts could endanger these? Obvious cases in point would include drinks or agricultural produce.

In seeking solutions, companies may ask their commercial water suppliers what they can do to help and, if no assistance is forthcoming, could consider switching to a supplier that is more willing to be proactive in this area.

How Can You Tackle Domestic Water Stress Issues?

There may not be much you or your supplier can do about conditions abroad, but England is set to require another five billion litres a day by 2055 to meet demand, which means there will certainly need to be some answers for your domestic supply chain.

How much they are affected will partly depend on what industry you are in and how water-intensive they are, but wherever a potential shortage of water threatens to cut off your supply of goods or services, resilience against water stress will be vital.

Some of the more effective ideas could include:

•       Teaming up with firms in your supply chain in a joint deal with a water supplier to develop and implement a focused strategy for water efficiency
•       A cohesive programme of joint efforts to establish water-saving measures from green roofs and grey water to eliminating leaks 
•       The construction of on-site reservoirs and water storage tanks that can be filled up in times of plenty (wet winters) and saved for dry summer periods
•       The possible use of desalination, which is used in some dry countries and is now being pioneered in the UK with strong support from the Environment Agency.
•       Sharing tips and knowledge about everyday measures to avoid wasting water

Could A Deal With Supply Chain Partners Provide The Solution?

These measures are not just useful for firms that exist at the end of the supply chain, operating on a business-to-consumer basis with the final products or services. They can be just as useful for companies that work down the chain on a business-to-business basis.

In either case, if keeping your firm running and doing its job requires a better use of water, you should not be trying to work it out on your own or even in partnership with your trading partners. Instead, your water supplier should engage with you in the search for solutions.

Should they neglect to do so, that may be a very good reason for all the companies to switch water supplier, acting in concert to establish a plan for collective water security and resilience against water stress.