New Global Water Tool launched for cement sector

DENVER — CH2M HILL played a role in development of a new Global Water Tool (GWT) launched last week at the Budapest Water Summit. Integrating global water data for groundwater, surface water, and precipitation, the tool, which was developed as part of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), allows cement companies to assess the risks of operating in water-stressed regions and helps them manage water use more efficiently and sustainably by producing maps and charts that identify water scarcity and biodiversity hotspots.

“The cadre of GWTs has been helping companies identify their most significant water-related risks and impacts, assess management plans and report water performance,” said Carlo Zaffaroni, CH2M HILL Industrial Water and Process Director – Europe. “The new tool, customized for the cement sector, enables cement companies to actively address their water challenges on a global and local scale so they can make informed business decisions related to sustainable water management.”

CH2M HILL has been involved with assisting the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and a consortium of companies in the development of water businesses tools since 2007 with the launch of the first GWT. The Local Water Tool (LWT) was developed out of the Global Environmental Management Initiative to help companies define local water risks at specific operating sites, and a customized LWT for the Oil and Gas industry was developed with IPIECA in 2011. The latest CSI tool extends this capability to cement companies so they can manage their water use and risk management globally. All of the water business tools are designed to work together to ensure the user’s ability to transfer data between tools for a comprehensive water risk assessment.

Like the GWT and LWT, the new CSI tool is a free, interactive tool that may be downloaded by users to their own computer systems. More than 300 companies use the business tools to report their water use.

Links to all of the free water tools are available from CH2M HILL’s Access Water site at www.ch2mhillblogs.com/water/latest-thinking/water-tools-for-business.