Scaling small solutions
Large-scale change is needed to create a water-secure future, and market forces
are helping drive this change in certain industries. For instance, India’s biggest
industrial users of water — coal-fired power plants — are struggling with repeated
shutdowns, adding greater momentum to the big-picture shift toward solar- and
wind-powered renewable energy.
But global businesses are also seeing the need for smaller-scale solutions.
Water scarcity affects people in the communities where they operate their
supply chains, bringing issues such as groundwater depletion to their attention.
Underground aquifers are drying up all over the world. In India, the world’s
largest user of groundwater, the water table has fallen to alarmingly low levels
because of rampant, unplanned extraction by both the agriculture sector and
urban development.
This is why ITC Limited, a global consumer goods business headquartered
in India whose portfolio includes branded packaged foods, is helping conserve
and replenish groundwater where the company and its supply chain operate —
reporting 40 percent improvement in those areas. It’s doing this by organizing
farmers into water user groups to help them manage their own local water
resources. This effort combines traditional and modern solutions. ITC is helping
farmers revive traditional floodwater and rainwater harvesting structures such
as community tanks and earthen embankments. In parallel, it’s working with
the same farmers to improve water-use efficiency with techniques such as micro-
irrigation. ITC’s initiatives span 16 states and involve 320,000 farmers, showing
that businesses can harness the collective power of countless small efforts to make
a big impact.
Similar efforts are underway in other parts of the world. Water is a business
risk for Swedish clothing retailer H&M; two-thirds of its 500-plus suppliers are
based in water-stressed countries. The company is not simply reducing its water
footprint in its own operations but going well outside the fence line to influence
small changes in many other locations. In Bangladesh, Turkey, and China, all
home to thriving textile-export industries, H&M is running education campaigns
on clean water and sanitation, mobilizing investments for cleaner production
techniques, and engaging with policymakers on water management issues.
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