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Assessing a Company's Water Risks

By Daniel Stouffer

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 26Aug2010 Word count: 503 Viewed: 250 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

As many organizations rely implicitly on the use of water, risks associated with its use should be comprehensively assessed in order to assure sustainability. These risks can change from one particular industry to another and from one company to another, but they are invariably complex and tied to numerous different scenarios. In short, it's not simply enough to question whether water will be available, as complex socioeconomic and political issues factor into the equation.

It is important to realize that no organization exists in a vacuum. As the company relies on the procurement of resources from outside its boundaries, so it cannot assume that these resources will be available based on purely economic factors alone.

As many organizations rely implicitly on the use of water, risks associated with its use should be comprehensively assessed in order to assure sustainability. These risks can change from one particular industry to another and from one company to another, but they are invariably complex and tied to numerous different scenarios. In short, it's not simply enough to question whether water will be available, as complex socioeconomic and political issues factor into the equation.

Water can be a very emotive subject, as it is regularly viewed as a finite resource, especially in arid months when we hear about the arrival of drought conditions. Electricity, another essential resource for the company, almost always "appears" to be available, after all.

Companies must consider all the water risks: what should happen in the event of drought, or conversely what should happen if significant flooding events occur? Wherever water is sourced, how could regional events or other developments affect its availability? Such questions require in-depth knowledge of the area, a finger on the political pulse and a good understanding of the demographic.

How effective is the regional government team in each area where your organization has a presence? In a distributed setup, this will require knowledge of the inner workings of several different government teams. Historically, how do they treat water risks and related issues? How are they likely to react to certain scenarios?

As water risks face everybody, individual consumer or corporation, emerging climatological events may significantly affect the amount of water available for corporate purposes. As the subject is so emotive, politicians are likely to come down in favor of the individual consumer and could well react with a potentially unfair raft of legislation, should the threat of drought or shortage arrive.

Whenever a company assesses its water risk, it should also address its disposal or runoff risks. Consuming the water is one thing, but if an industrial process results in runoff, how is this being handled? Remember that environmental issues are gaining more attention and the company must ensure that its effect on the local ecological systems is kept to a manageable level.

A comprehensive water risk assessment will reveal all potential setbacks and develop numerous "what if" scenarios. Every company must be prepared for a challenge to its water use and be able to justify its position accordingly.

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