Industrial Water Management

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Current prices for water do not reflect its true value, S&P Global Trucost noted. The immanent risk of rising water prices due to environmental pollution, by contaminated water or natural disasters, is being successfully ignored in many business cases. This is because if the true costs of water would be reflected within its price, more than half of the worldwide profits were at risk (CDP). This shows the shortsighted behavior of many businesses and governments, who support this by subsidizing. By ignoring the true costs of resources like water, companies are creating a situation where they will face higher costs, supply chain disruptions, and reputational damage.

Water is the essential feedstock

The IEA has highlighted the strong interdependence between energy and water. Water is essential to produce and store energy, as well as to cool down power plants. For many industries, absolute water use is increasing. The dependency on water is putting industrial production, manufacturing and the society under risk. On the long run, this will have a stronger distress than carbon taxes.

Optimizing the efficiency by the right investment will decrease the consumption and dependency. Recent examples of the threats to the supply chain and energy supply include limitations in cargo shipping at the river Rhine in 2022 or cutting the output of power plants in France due to high water temperatures. Ignoring these risks can lead to business risks that can be five times greater (CDP).

A forward-looking investment takes not only the environment into account but also its changes. In this, climate change and environmental policies are just an additional accelerator for the ongoing global renovation.

The five industrial megatrends

As European research partner for the production and manufacturing industries we focus on five main trends accelerating the change.

Services

With our market expertise and technical know-how, we can support you. By the end you will have a water and resource resilient site and simultaneously reduce the energy demand and the carbon footprint.

The i²WM proceeding

As a result of various R&DI projects and together with big industrial partners, we build an integrated Industrial Water Management (I²WM) strategy to tackle the challenges and plain the path for adaptation. Our I²WM strategy includes the implementation of new technologies and best practices to optimize water usage, reduce environmental impact, and increase the reliability and security of industrial processes. Our ongoing activities, projects and networks build our knowledge-pool and keep us ahead of state of the art.

For simple realization our competencies are consolidated in three steps:

I) Goal definition: Strategic Resource Management

This solution value assessment supports you in allocating your resources, weight expectations and elaborate an individual roadmap. We assess economic, but also qualitative objectives, such as social and environmental goals.

II) Assessment and strategy: Maturity Improvement Plan

A progressive implementation plan sets small, but achievable improvements without losing sight of the big picture. This also support you in detecting and benchmarking the current maturity.

III) Application: Implementation Plan

Supporting a fast and easy implementation of the goals and innovations is key. We support you with experience and implementation partners