Water Resilience: Top Tips For Businesses

Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail, as the old adage goes, and this is particularly true from a business perspective in the 21st century, with the climate crisis deepening all around us.

Of course, uncertainty has always existed (which is why risk assessments are so essential), but it seems as though the world is changing around us faster and faster… and those businesses that don’t pay attention and which don’t take action to mitigate and adapt to the associated risks will likely flounder sooner rather than later.

In order to ensure that your brand continues to flourish and thrive, no matter what the future holds, it will become increasingly necessary to prioritise operational resilience, ensuring that your organisation and infrastructure is able to avoid disruption, as well as cope during it and recover from it afterwards.

Businesses face all sorts of pressures these days, but it is climate change that perhaps poses the greatest risk of them all… particularly where water is concerned.

Water is essential for business operations of all kinds and without it, all aspects of modern life would simply grind to a halt, everything from agriculture and food production to manufacturing, construction, textiles, consumer packaged goods… everything has a water footprint and it’s becoming increasingly important to reduce this wherever possible.

Experts are now predicting that global demand for water will outstrip supply by 40 per cent come the year 2030, driven by climate change, urbanisation, more frequent extreme weather events, water mismanagement, ageing infrastructure and population growth.

Water stress and scarcity are both issues that will be felt across the globe, affecting regions in all continents, and businesses will need to factor this in when carrying out risk assessments so they can be as prepared as possible to react to a world that is evolving and changing quite rapidly.

How can businesses become more water resilient?

For companies, adapting to the climate crisis will help to reduce the risks they face, but also potentially present them with new opportunities, as well. Brands will need to work towards managing the existing risks and respond to new and emerging ones, but also strive to adapt to and cater for any shifts in their markets that result from climate change impacts.

Reducing reliance on mains water supplies can help companies ensure that they are able to continue operating, even if these systems are suddenly temporarily unavailable or face ongoing disruption over a prolonged period of time.

The first step towards becoming more water resilient is to have a water audit of your entire site and supply chain carried out. This will show you where and how you’re using water, allowing you to come up with a range of different water-saving solutions that can be adjusted over time as the landscape changes.

As important as it is to know what the water consumption habits of your actual business is, if you’re to become truly water resilient, you’ll also need to take your supply chain into account.

Reviewing the different suppliers you use can be beneficial, as well, as it will allow you to see where they’re based, what materials they use, what their own green credentials are and so on.

This, in turn, allows you to ensure that the suppliers you choose to work with align with your own brand values, as well as familiarising yourself with any water stress issues in their particular region, so you can keep abreast of any possible problems in this regard.

Reshoring some or all of your supply chain is another way to become more resilient and more sustainable as a business, making operations less complex and potentially more reliable.

Using local producers and suppliers can also drive eco-friendly benefits, as well as supporting the local economy, although it is also important to be flexible and adopt numerous sourcing strategies so you can adapt immediately to changes as and when they happen.

And, of course, there’s a lot of technology at our disposal these days that can also help us become more water efficient. Artificial intelligence can be used alongside Internet of Things sensors to track, predict and respond to water demand levels, providing a continuous stream of data for analysis so that solutions can be implemented and evolved, no matter what takes place.

If you’d like to find out more about water efficiency and how you can make improvements as a business, get in touch with the team here at SwitchWaterSupplier.com today.