How Corporations Are Changing Our Freshwater Future

Over 30 diverse companies have joined the corporate water stewardship movement called Change the Course that aims to fundamentally change how we use, manage and value freshwater. 

Everything we use, wear, buy, sell and eat takes water to make. That means the business of water is everyone’s business. A growing number of forward-thinking companies are realizing that through coordinated action they can change our freshwater future for the better — reducing risk and uncertainty, while creating healthier rivers and diverse economic opportunities at the same time.

Our nationwide Change the Course campaign has brought together more than 30 diverse corporations to help build water security by shrinking our human water footprint and restoring flows and health to vital freshwater ecosystems.

For every personal pledge from a member of the public to conserve water, Change the Course returns 1,000 gallons to an ecosystem in need.

Corporate partners underwrite the restoration projects, which are implemented with on-the-ground conservation partners. 

In this way, Change the Course creates a virtuous cycle of freshwater education, conservation and restoration — and it’s working. Corporate partners already have supported a growing portfolio of 30 restoration projects across 10 U.S. states and Mexico, restoring over 8 billion gallons of water and engaging over 225,000 individuals in water conservation.

Companies have creatively deployed their brands and engaged their customers, employees, business networks and financial resources to advance water stewardship. 

Increasingly, corporations realize that through collaborations they can be an influential force for change in outmoded water management policies and practices.

Through its Connect the Drops program, for example, Ceres, a Boston-based non-profit, has elevated the business voice in drought-stricken California, linking the state’s economic vitality to the sustainability of its water supply. Companies that have signed on to the program are raising public awareness, promoting conservation and saving water in their own operations.

Creative corporate engagement

Companies are spearheading water stewardship actions in a variety of ways. While many have implemented strategies to reduce operational water use, until recently, few had developed the capacity or mechanisms to address larger water challenges outside of their own walls, such as restoring flow to depleted rivers.

But as Deanna Bratter, director of corporate sustainability with WhiteWave Foods, recently wrote in Huffington Post, "Companies need to go beyond facility footprint, taking responsibility for the water needs of our communities, supply chains, and the world at large." 

WhiteWave Foods, whose brands include Silk, So Delicious and Horizon Organic, was the first charter sponsor of Change the Course. A key motivation for the company was to balance its unavoidable manufacturing and operational water footprint gallon-for-gallon by purchasing Water Restoration Certificates (WRC), a product created by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to help companies balance their water impacts.

Another motivation was to support restoration projects relevant to the company’s agricultural supply chain in California, including almond production, and to engage its customers, employees and other leading sustainable brands. 

In helping to build this movement, Change the Course has taken a multi-faceted approach that enables each company to participate in ways that best suit its needs, goals, capacity and experiences. Some may be more interested in public or customer engagement, others in driving water conservation, and still others in directly restoring water to the natural environment.

The offering of a diverse portfolio of options has been the single most important factor in enabling Change the Course to partner with over 30 diverse companies and to achieve broad success. 

Companies see both risk and opportunity in society’s growing water supply constraints. A vanguard of companies is testing and exploring different pathways to raise awareness, influence policy and advance on-the-ground projects that build long-term water security for the good of communities, businesses and the environment. 

Blog by Val Fishman, Sandra Postel and Todd Reeve
Read full original blog on: Green Biz