WATER SCARCITYTHE BRAND OWNER PERSPECTIVE

Water scarcity touches many aspects of a brand owner’s operations. So how are they helping to address this global challenge?

‘Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.’ Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner alludes to a thirst-quenched man, stranded amid the salt water ocean. The mariner reflects on the irony of his plight – so much water in which he finds himself cut adrift from society and safety; yet none of it able to serve his desperate need to drink.

Coleridge’s line captures both the ubiquity and preciousness of water. Today, access to water for many is a simple case of turning on the nearest tap. Plumbed into our homes and offices, we take water for granted. Water in many regions is so convenient that our approach to its use can almost be careless.

Huge quantities of water are used worldwide. In 1996-2005, this global ‘water footprint’ was an average of 9,000 billion metres cubed per year (WWF’s Living Planet Report, 2012). Per capita, our water usage varies considerably: in Mali, people use 4m3 of water on average each year; at the other end of the scale in the US, per capita use is 215m3 (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2005). Put into context, humans need two litres of water a day to survive – which equates to less than 1m3 a year.

Water sustains agriculture; it goes into the production of many goods, from cosmetics to clothing; and it is used in millions of households each and every day. Yet just 2.5% of the world’s water is the freshwater needed for many of these purposes – and 70% of that is to be found in snow and ice. This breaks down into green water – rainwater that evaporates during the production of goods; blue water – predominantly freshwater withdrawn from surface or groundwater sources that is used by people and not returned; and grey water – required to dilute pollutants released in production processes to such an extent that the quality of the ambient water remains above agreed water quality standards.

Blue water availability in particular provides an important measure of water stress. Research highlighted in the Living Planet Report suggests water supplies from local river basins can be considered scarce when the flow requirement (water needed to maintain freshwater integrity) exceeds 80% of the natural flow (the estimated flow through the river basin before any water is taken out).

FROM PROCESSING TO PRODUCT

WATER–POVERTY THRESHOLD

GHANA, NIGERIABANGLADESH, KENYA

CHINA

UNITED KINGDOM

INDIA

PHILIPPINESPERUBRAZILGERMANY

SPAIN

MEXICO

ITALY

AUSTRALIA

UNITED STATES

JAPAN

NORWAY

FRANCE

AUSTRIA

DENMARK

MOZAMBIQUEANGOLA, CAMBODIA, ETHIOPIA, HAITI, RWANDA, UGANDA

50

100

250

300

350

400

(litres)

150

200

450

500

550

600

0

BURKINA FASO, NIGER

Source: United Nations Development Program – Human Development Report 2006.

AVERAGE WATER USE PERPERSON PER DAY (LITRES)

REGIONAL WATER SHORTAGESBased on these studies, it is clear that water scarcity is becoming a globally prevalent issue. The WWF notes at least 2.7 billion people live in river basins that experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The report also outlines the many regions where communities face severe water shortages at different points in the year. From Australia and China, to South Africa and the US – all of which face water scarcity at points in the year – this is a universal challenge.

The UN estimates that each person needs about 50-100 litres per day for drinking, cooking and washing. Yet in the poorest countries people live on as little as 10 litres a day

It is in this context that we can see how water is at once considered convenient and precious. Long showers, overfilled kettles, dripping taps, or water-hungry laundry cycles are common occurrences in many households; yet billions face water scarcity challenges on a daily basis.

TOUCH POINTSFor brand owners, the water scarcity challenge is particularly complex. Water use is linked to consumption. Goods are processed using water and facilities consume local water resources as part of their operations. As an indicator of water use for household goods production, the American Cleaning Institute has gathered figures for 20 of its member companies in producing cleaning products during 2009-11, as part of a 2013 Sustainability Report (https://www.mycleaninginstitute.org/fb/Sustainability/2013/ACI/Report.pdf ). The research suggests that 3.6m3 of water is used per tonne of cleaning product.

Goods such as household and cleaning products, from laundry tablets to toothpaste, also require water supplies to be used in the home. In water-scarce countries, for instance, around 38% of domestic water is used to clean clothes.

In addition to the above touch points, but consumers are somewhat conscious of sustainability challenges – and brand owners must therefore also seek to take action that presents their brands as sustainable.

Glenn May, chief R&D officer at Ecologic Brands, which supplies sustainable packaging to cleaning product brand owners, outlines the many touch points of water use for brand owners. He remarks: ‘In the world of manufacturing and processing, the past few years have brought a realisation that there is a responsibility to conserve water and use it with care. This has led to further concentration of product formulae, such as laundry detergents and dish soaps, in turn leading to smaller, more economical packages, and less fuel required to distribute.

‘As consumer awareness of water scarcity increases, brand owners must consider all aspects of water usage in their products, and ensure that water is used efficiently. Examples are not only the concentration of product formulae, but also water used to process packaging and products.’

Brands like Nestlé and Coca-Cola have taken action to understand their water use and conserve it, as May suggests. Coca-Cola has a goal to return to communities and nature an amount of water equivalent to what its uses in its drinks and their production by 2020. Since 2001 the company has reduced its water use ratio by 1/5th, it says. Similarly Nestlé closely monitors its localised use of water: as of 2012, the company had undertaken 116 Water Resource Reviews – field assessments evaluating potential impact on a community’s right to water, as well as the long-term availability of water resources around its factories at a watershed level, especially in water stressed/water scarce regions.

86%

US

42%FRANCE

31%EGYPT

21%INDIA

13%CHINA

2%MALI

PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION OF WATER BY COUNTRY PER YEAR (CUBIC METRES)

AFFLUENCEAt the same time, many regions are rapidly developing wealth and prosperity that is generating increased consumption of goods. The economic growth of countries like China, India and Mexico are creating many new, middle class consumers who want access to everything from fashion labels and smartphones to branded cleaning products.

‘Affluence is certainly a factor – for example, as average income increases, meat consumption increases significantly. And of course, it requires a lot more water to produce meat versus an equivalent amount of a vegetarian alternative,’ notes Bea Buyle, who manages environmental stewardship and sustainability at P&G.

P&G acknowledges that water scarcity is becoming an increasingly important issue, and is working with organisations such as the World Resources Institutes’ (Aqueduct) and WWF (Water Risk Filter) to develop an effective water risk assessment tool for its’ production sites.

Water is very complex as issues are local: water shortages in a region can affect the water required to produce in sites of that region, as well as the use of household and personal care products by consumers in that same area.

INNOVATION‘We’re looking at new technologies that can offer better performance in low-water conditions. For example P&G developed Downy Single Rinse: a fabric conditioner that allows users to reduce the water needed for rinsing hand-washed clothes by two thirds. This product not only makes a difference in the amount of water used, but also it saves time for women and children, who often need to walk for hours to fetch the household water,’ explains Buyle.

Brand owners are keen to get innovative, sustainable products to market. Dry shampoos and laundry solutions requiring shorter cycles are among the areas that have seen product developments by various brand owners.

Washing machine and dishwasher manufacturers are also responding. Brand owners have a crucial role to play here in selling the proposition of more efficient (and economical) wash cycles, reducing their water bills. In April 2013, Bosch responded to rising water bills in the UK with an announcement pointing towards the low water consumption of its household products. This includes the Aquastar dishwasher, which can clean and dry 13 place settings of crockery, cutlery and glassware using just 6 litres of water; and the Bosch 8kg, 1400 spin speed washing machine, which uses roughly 8,700 litres per year (based on 220 standard wash cycles). Over five years this machine saves 459 litres of water – the equivalent of two years worth of wash cycles.

Commenting at the time, Bosch brand manager Rosalinda Pisani noted: ‘With water rationing in sight, the Bosch range ticks all the right boxes for significantly reducing household water consumption. Bosch has a long history of groundbreaking developments in water and energy saving, and this new generation of models continues this tradition.’

These innovations help businesses establish the sustainable approaches that are going to be expected of them sooner or later as issues like water scarcity move up the agenda. They have also helped bring new brands on to the marketplace.

Cleaning products brand owner Ecover broke into the mainstream household products markets thanks to new formulations that eschewed phosphates, in favour of alternatives that could help preserve water quality. In previous decades, governing bodies have made concerted efforts to reduce the levels of phosphate and nitrate in bodies of water.

‘Reducing aquatic impacts and preserving water quality has been a central focus for Ecover over the years,’ notes Tom Domen. This outlook relates to its use of non-toxic ingredients, as well as the low water usage of a variety of its products. A toilet cleaner from Ecover, for instance, uses 1/400th the amount of water needed to neutralise as some competitors. And in terms of facilities, Ecover’s site in Malle, Belgium, hosts a wastewater treatment facility – an easier task for the brand owner to handle itself as it uses non-toxic ingredients.

22%

8%

INDUSTRIAL

DOMESTIC

70%AGRICULTURAL

WORLD

59%

11%

INDUSTRIAL

DOMESTIC

30%AGRICULTURAL

HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES

10%

8%

INDUSTRIAL

DOMESTIC

82%AGRICULTURAL

LOW/MIDDLE-INCOME

COUNTRIES

WATER USE BY TYPE

LOCAL RESOURCESBeyond formulations, brand owners are looking at their facilities and processes to ensure sustainable use of local water resources.

P&G has piloted water stewardship with the WWF in the Lake Tai basin in China, and recently organised a water stewardship workshop in Mexico to evaluate issues and opportunities of its sites in this region. Tools like The Water Risk Filter (http://waterriskfilter.panda.org/) and Aqueduct (http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/aqueduct) are used to assess the water risks of production sites across the globe.

Fellow brand owner Unilever has committed to halving the water associated with the consumer use of its products by 2020 (based on 2010 figures). Currently the company’s water impact per consumer use has remained broadly unchanged since 2010, with inroads made with water use at manufacturing sites, and the rollout of easy rinsing fabric conditioner in a number of Asian countries.

Unilever also estimates that its One Rinse range, which promises more sustainable use of water per wash, has been used in 1.4 billion washes in 28.7 million households worldwide, a 66% increase on 2010. To put that into context, One Rinse fabric conditioner reduces the amount of water needed to remove detergent residues to one bucket rather than three. This can save up to half the water per wash – around 30 litres – if used correctly.

Another element is for brand owners to have a positive impact on regions where manufacturing takes place. P&G also supplies the Purifier of Water, a 4g sachet of powder that is able to attract and help filter out dirt from water, in a manner similar to municipal water treatment.

Buyle adds: ‘The P&G Purifier of Water is currently available in 75 countries and has delivered 6.8 billion litres of safe drinking water, estimated to have saved approximately 37,000 lives; but also allowing many more kids to stay in school, get an education and thus increase their chances for a better life. Our goal is to deliver enough P&G Purifier of water to communities in need so as to save one life every hour. We are well on our way to achieve this as of 2020.’

SUPPLY CHAINAside from their own activity, brand owners are also looking at their supply chains to influence the use of water resources.

‘The first step for us is to look at our supply chain and the use of renewable ingredients, to judge the different uses of water for each material. Reducing our water footprint via our supply chain is probably where we can have the biggest impact,’ says Ecover’s Tom Domen.

Today Ecover is exploring the use of sustainable alternatives to plastics, with biomaterials and algae-based plastics on its radar. The success of these potential new supplies will, however, depend on their water consumption.

Brand owners can also work with appliance manufacturers, to collaborate on technologies and processes with lower water usage.

P&G has worked with white goods manufacturers on approaches to high-efficiency machines, an area that is gradually progressing. And Ecover has previously worked with Philips on new, more sustainable floor cleaning concepts.

CONSUMER INTERESTThere is, however, one significant aspect of the value chain that brand owners are struggling to meaningfully influence: consumers. While water scarcity registers as a big issue for brand owners and their operations, consumer awareness falls short somewhat.

‘We have found that consumer opinions are mixed regarding sustainability in general,’ says Buyle of P&G, discussing overall consumer perspectives on sustainability (of which water use is one part).

‘Around 15-20% of consumers are eager to use more sustainable products – and are willing to pay a little bit more, or accept some trade-offs in performance. The majority of consumers (60-70%) will adopt a product with more sustainable feature if it results in no trade-offs on cost or performance. The remaining 15-20% of consumers will go for the (economic) value option.’

These are figures that have remained stubbornly steady in recent years, despite considerable efforts by brand owners, governments and NGOs to get people thinking about sustainable products. Such general views on sustainability are reflected to a degree in terms of water usage specifically in the relatively sluggish growth for more economic washing machines, for instance.

Some action is being taken though. The Wasting Water is Weird campaign (http://www.wastingwaterisweird.com/), launched in 2011, aimed to get people thinking about how they use – and misuse or waste – water. Brand owners such as Bosch, Kohler, and P&G got involved in the campaign too. The campaign, according to coordinators the Shelton Group, helped to influence behaviour on a large scale. It achieved 432 million impressions with 29% of those who saw it claiming it had moved them to change their water usage habits.

It is likely that consumers will become increasingly aware of the effects of water scarcity on their daily lives. The cost of water is rising in a number of regions. And access is straining to meet demand. Buyle notes that parts of Mexico restrict tap water access to two days of the week. Of course, people are creative, and in Mexico they simply stock up and schedule laundry for certain days to suit. Still, these kinds of pressures may well make consumers more conscious of the scarcity and value of water. The convenience of the conventional approach will be more vulnerable to disruption from some of the innovative approaches and products now in development at brand owners across the globe.

FUTUREBrand owners may, in time, help positively influence consumers’ perception of water scarcity and be more active stakeholders in sustainable water use. Until then, brand owners must create products that do the job with less water, as well as making their operations increasingly sustainable.

Fortunately there are many examples of ambitious brand owner projects that are progressing well, with the support of NGOs and other stakeholders – projects like those mentioned above that will reduce water consumption among the cleaning products industry, and provide high-profile instances of best practice for other brands to emulate. And this momentum could help raise awareness among consumers – bringing them closer to the action on water scarcity in the coming years too.

To read more on the consumer trends shaping the industry, visit fhc.biosciences.dupont.com

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