The Ecolab Smart Water Navigator

Many companies have corporate water targets, but all too often they don’t know how to translate them into real water reductions. From a 2017 Ecolab/GreenBiz survey we know that 82 percent of companies lack the tools and expertise to achieve tangible results. Repeated in 2019, the survey showed that, although the sense of urgency around water is growing, almost half of companies do not have a clear plan to get from corporate goals to tangible results. 

In fact, according to numbers compiled by S&P Trucost, corporate water use is increasing globally. That trend must be reversed, because the U.N. projects that under a business-as-usual scenario, the world will face a 40 percent fresh water deficit by 2030.  

To ensure continued growth in an increasingly water-scarce world – and to help avoid a global water crisis – companies must decrease their water use and build smart, circular water management practices. The Ecolab Smart Water Navigator will help them make that happen by bridging the gap between good intentions and effective action.

To achieve that, the Smart Water Navigator focuses on the individual facility level. That’s where real waters savings must happen, because all water is local. Depending on factors such as weather patterns, geography and local soil conditions, every location is different, and every individual facility requires solutions tailored to its own situation.

• Each of a company’s facilities takes a straight-forward, 13-question online assessment.
• The Smart Water Navigator places each facility on the Water Maturity Curve, a clear way to visualize water management performance.
• Using a corporate dashboard, companies can sort their facilities by variables such as water stress, location and current performance. This makes it easy to prioritize the ones that are ripe for water-related investments and upgrades.
• For each facility, the Smart Water Navigator generates a tailored, industry- and location-specific guide that proposes practical action steps to improve water management and move up to the next level on the Water Maturity Curve.
• After taking these steps, facilities can take the assessment again and determine how they have improved and what they need to do to progress to the highest level on the curve and become “Water-smart.”

The Smart Water Navigator helps companies reduce their water usage facility by facility, and, in the aggregate, achieve their corporate water reduction targets. This reduces cost and helps facilities work more efficiently and be more productive.

Because using water takes energy, the tool also helps companies reduce their energy use, further bringing down cost and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In an increasingly water-scarce world, being a better water steward also means being a better corporate citizen and building better relations with surrounding communities.  

The Smart Water Navigator is free and publicly available. It works for any industry and any company, anywhere in the world, whether it manages one facility, dozens or even hundreds.

The tool was developed by Ecolab with advice from S&P Trucost, the World Resources Institute and the Pacific Institute, as well as experts from several major global companies. 

Visit the Smart Water Navigator website to learn more and access the tool.