H20 management: some helpful resources
Conserving water and reducing waste water is becoming more important to manufacturers, as noted in my last post. And manufacturers embarking on water (H2O) conservation programs aren’t alone when it comes to developing their strategies. Three groups I’ve come across in my research offer helpful information or events of interest to those of us in business concerned about water resource management.
One group is the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), an industry organization with 28 member companies that has published a paper on water issues, “The Business Case for Pursuing Water Sustainability,” which can be found here. Another group I recently learned about from Intel is the Water Innovations Alliance, an industry association focused on water technologies and use of IT in the wiser use of water. The alliance is putting on a two-day conference at Chicago’s McCormick place next week (Sept. 9-10). One presenter at the conference is from another group worth checking out: the Alliance for Water Efficiency, which has an online resource library of conservation tips applicable to homes, offices, or industrial settings.
Since the Clean Water Act in the early 1970s, government and industry have done much to clean up the worst causes of water pollution. We no longer have rivers catching fire, and while clean-up efforts from that past era aren’t over (where I live near the Fox River in Wisconsin, major dredging/capping to mitigate PCBs just started this spring), this nation’s efforts toward cleaner water largely have been a success. Sure, we still have a lot to do to combat water pollution, invasive species, and other threats, but now the issue with H2O is shifting to wiser use of water as a resource, and for industry, how to minimize costs without slowing productivity, all while appealing to a new generation of consumers. It’s good to see non-profits and associations starting up to address issues like water efficiency and water technology. Check out the above organizations if you’re thirsty for some good info on H2O.
