Implementing a Water Body Risk Assessment Framework

Jenny Heumann Godes

External stakeholders, including customers, investors, and NGOs, are increasingly interested in how chemical manufacturing companies are managing water resources in the communities where they operate. And chemical companies are working to demonstrate that they are responsible stewards of water resources.

Traditionally, water management at chemical facilities has focused primarily on operational efficiency and compliance with facility water permits and other regulations. Today, facilities also are addressing broader issues, including regional effects of climate change on local water sources, along with competing demands for water due to population growth, nearby industries, and increased production.

To address these broader issues, ACC collaborated with nonprofit organization The Water Council, to develop a Water Body Risk Assessment (WBRA) framework to help ACC member companies identify and consider potential actions they can take to address and mitigate water-related risks.

ACC members are committed to water stewardship and protecting and preserving drinking water sources in the communities where we operate.

Conducting a WBRA at their sites can be an important element of an enterprise-wide water stewardship program. The WBRA can help ACC members assess and prioritize potential water-related risks at their facilities and identify opportunities to mitigate these risks.

The WBRA can help companies determine:

How much water is used at their facilities, including the amount of water coming into and leaving the site.
The ultimate sources for incoming/outgoing water to and from the facility and the facility’s demand relative to other users.
The overall health of the water basin in the facility’s region and the facility’s impact on water quantity and quality.
How to screen facility sites for water risk to help those site with higher risks address specific challenges.

A comprehensive Water Stewardship Program can help ACC members take a holistic approach to identifying and mitigating water-related risk to operations inside the fence line, along with water challenges that affect users across the watershed. Conducting a WBRA can help member companies be viewed as water stewardship leaders in their communities and within the chemical industry.

As a result of conducting a WBRA, some ACC members are reaching out to their public water utilities, local NGOs, and other stakeholders to enable clean water and responsible water sourcing into the future. Others are defining corporate-wide water stewardship goals for their organization, setting facility-based targets, working to address regulatory issues, or engaging with community stakeholders in collaborative efforts to improve water stewardship in the surrounding community.

By working proactively with community stakeholders on local water stewardship initiatives to address shared challenges and opportunities, ACC members can show what they are doing to be responsible water stewards in their communities.

Implementing a Water Body Risk Assessment Framework

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