- 150 companies impact a third of the world’s water usage.
- For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic return of between $3 and $34.
- Africa water crisis is worsening poverty levels, derailing development.
Water management is a basic necessity for modern development in any nation. Water waste needs to become a thing of the past and that growing a business goes hand in hand with solving the water crisis.
These are the views of Christophe Beck, chairman and CEO of Ecolab, a US based company that provides a wide range of water management and hygiene products and services ranging from disinfectants and cleaning supplies to water-treatment systems.
“Ecolab was founded in 1923 and to date, we provide our services to customers in more than 170 countries,” said the proud CEO.
Ecolab, or Economics Laboratory, started with serving the restaurant industry, now the company has a staff base of more than 48,000 persons, serves more than 40 industries and has annual revenues of over USD16 billion. Most recently, the company expanded its services to data centers, where, among its offerings, it provides chip-cooling solutions that minimize water use.
In a recent interview, the Ecolab CEO spoke of managing the complexity of the business, establishing a culture of innovation, and how pursuing a diverse workforce has created high-performing teams. This is where African governments and businesses can learn on best modern methods to solve the continent’s water crisis.
“Part of Ecolab’s mission is to protect people and the resources vital to life with a particular focus on water, addressing water scarcity because without water there is no life, no business growth, no future,” the CEO said.
The succesful entrapreneur and leader, raised the point that while no one is against clean water, however, the problem is that the way we use water today is linear, we use water, and we dump water, “…that’s not going to work long term,” he cautioned.
“If you were to bring all the water on Earth together in one bubble, that bubble would be a little over 800 miles wide. But here’s the catch, if you look at just the surface water, including lakes and streams, it would be a bubble that’s roughly 35 miles wide. That’s all we’ve got. Yet when we look down the road to 2030, the world will need 56 percent more than what nature can replenish through the rain cycle. We will need to reuse and recycle water,” he projected.
“When you try to understand the true impact of business on water usage,” he explained, “…the striking fact is that just 150 companies impact a third of the world’s water usage.”
“This is very good news because you can get 150 companies in one room, and that’s what we’re doing with the Water Resilience Coalition,” the CEO went on to explain.
The Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) is a CEO-led initiative to address the global water crisis. Beck explains that the WRC works to elevate action on mounting water stress and its connection to climate change to the top of the global corporate agenda.
“WRC members work to preserve the world’s freshwater resources through collective action in water-stressed basins and through ambitious, quantifiable goals. We are an initiative of the CEO Water Mandate between the UN Global Compact and the Pacific Institute.,” he detailed.
The water management expert explained that when you reduce water usage, you reduce energy usage because up to 75 percent of the energy used in a manufacturing plant is used to manage water, to heat water, to cool water, to treat water, to pump water etc.
“So you reduce water usage, you reduce energy usage, you reduce your cost as well,” the CEO said.
Sounds logical and easy enough so why there hasn’t been more action taken on something so tangible and doable?
Beck explains that the first challenge many business owners (and policy makers) think that working on water preservation, reuse, and recycling will come at a net cost.
“It is this assumed net cost that they are not interested in taking on because of the misperception that water is a low-cost, infinite resource…but we know that is not the case,” Beck explains.
Beck warns that the misconception of water been an infinite resource is what is hampering action on water management.
“While water may be inexpensive, we cannot generate more of it,” he warned.
“Ecolab has been demonstrating that reducing net water usage is a smart, fiscally responsible business decision, even in the short term. It’s not about making a big investment where the payback is five years down the road, with water management, the impact is immediate,” he asserted.
He then pointed out that many people don’t realize that technology already exists to solve the water mangement problem.
“We aren’t starting from scratch. We don’t have to innovate in the future to figure this out. We can do it today,” he said.
He cite an industry that uses massive amounts of water unnecesarily, the microelectronics field where they manufacture chips through a process known as fabrication. Microelectronics is a field of electronics engineering that deals with the design and fabrication of small electronic devices, such as microprocessors. These facilities, also known as semiconductor fabrication plants, are crucial for producing the chips that power electronic devices like smartphones and computers.
“One such fabrication plant uses as much water as the drinking needs of roughly 17 million people…and these few fabrication companies around the world all have huge wastewater treatment plants,” Beck detailed.
He explained that; “The way we need to think about it is that wastewater is an engineering flaw. There should be no wastewater. We should be reusing and recycling the water within the production process. If you do it step by step with the right technology, you can use almost no water to produce more chips at a lower cost,” he summed up.
Also Read: Africa healthcare: Calls grow for self-reliance as foreign aid dries up
Water management, the crisis in Africa
According to sector experts, addressing Africa’s water crisis requires a multifaceted approach focused on improved water management, technological innovation, and community engagement. This includes implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), investing in infrastructure, promoting water conservation, and developing innovative solutions like rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling.
“Strengthening policy and governance, as well as fostering international cooperation, are crucial for sustainable water management,” UNICEF says.
According to UNICEF, despite the continent’s vast lakes, rivers, and groundwater reserves, many communities struggle to access clean and safe water.
The agency goes on to explain that rapid population growth, climate change, and poor water management have intensified the water crisis, making it one of Africa’s most pressing environmental and humanitarian issues today.
“Addressing this challenge requires infrastructure development, conservation efforts, and innovative solutions,” UNICEF notes. It is on the innovative solutions part that companies like Ecolab provide solutions to Africa’s water crisis.
UNICEF highlights the facr that unclean water sources in Africa are often miles from villages, many of the able-bodied members of a community are forced to spend hours each day simply finding and transporting water. The typical container used for water collection in Africa, the jerry can, weighs over 40 pounds when it’s completely full.
“Imagine how demanding it would be to carry the equivalent of a 5-year-old child for three hours out of each day. And some women carry even more, up to 70 pounds in a barrel carried on the back. That’s like carrying a baby hippo,” UNICEF notes.
“The United Nations estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 40 billion hours per year collecting water; that’s the same as a whole year’s worth of labor done by France’s entire workforce! This is incredibly valuable time,” writes the Water Project, a non profit organisation dedicated to solving Africa’s water crisis.
The Water Project management points out that; “With much of one’s day already consumed by meeting basic needs, there isn’t time for much else. The hours lost to gathering water are often the difference between time to do a trade and earn a living and not. Just think of all the things you would miss if you had to take three hours out each day to get water,” they query.
The NGO says when a water solution is put into place, sustainable agriculture is possible. Children get back to school instead of collecting dirty water all day, or being sick from waterborne illnesses. Likewise, parents find more time to care for their families, expand minimal farming to sustainable levels, and even run small businesses.
The social and economic effects caused by a lack of clean water must be the highest priority for African communities. According to the World Health Organization, for every $1 invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic return of between $3 and $34!
