Blue Is The New Green

Within the sustainability arena, energy use and carbon emissions have been in the spotlight for a long time, however the next big trend to hit the agenda is an increasing focus on water. Already most companies’ CSR reports will have a section pointing to their policies or stance on water issues, but in the future you will rarely be able to open your newspaper without seeing some reference to water matters.

So far, water has not been quantified in the same way as carbon, or indeed received anywhere near the same amount of media attention as CO2, but the prediction is that you will soon see people measuring their ‘hydro’ footprint and thinking about the environmental impact of water use. Some investors have even suggested that water will eventually be commoditised and traded as a futures contract in the same way as oil or sugar.

The United Nations estimates that a worrying 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water and that by 2050 that figure will double to more than two billion. Countries like China are already facing an imminent water crisis. The country has long suffered from alternating periods of severe flooding and drought, which combined with high pollution levels and unrealistic policies on water management, means that demand significantly outweighs supply and they simply don’t have the resources to cope.

The water issue should provide a whole new world of opportunities for technology firms and investors. The problem is that water-saving initiatives are expensive to implement, in everything from the treatment of contaminated water supplies to efficient irrigation methods. For consumers, it may also be costly if the added financial burden has to be passed on. However the cost of not taking action will be much higher if we wait until further down the line.

So water is the new thing to top the sustainability agenda and will be the driving force behind consumer thinking and behaviour over the next few months if not years. Of course the message is not to forget about issues like carbon, but just to include water as important too. As futurist Marion Salzman says, “the era of apparently limitless clean water supplies is ending, and I think clean water is going to be the big eco debate of this year.”
Try using these water calculators to work out your own ‘hydro’ footprint…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/5086298.stm

http://www.northshorecity.govt.nz/?src=/water/watersupply/backflowprevention/water-calculator.htm

http://www.watercorporation.com.au/_includes/calculator/calculator.asp

http://www.livingandlearningwithwater.com/teachersarea/waterconservation/_swf/calculator.swf

Contributed by Clownfish