Deprive your body of water and you'll be dead within a week. The survival rate is similar for some of the largest industries equally dependent on water to grow food and make goods such as jeans, beverages, electric power, homes, chemicals and even computer chips.
While many people depend on these products, at the same time, many local communities are competing with manufacturers for limited water resources. For example, the computer chip maker Intel estimates it takes 16 gallons of water to produce a single chip, which explains its huge appetite for water in 2011: some 8.3bn gallons from local water systems. Comparatively, the average American uses about 100 gallons of water each day; the average African just five gallons.
Competition for water is only expected to increase, as highlighted recently at the World Water Week conference. For companies in these water intensive industries, addressing these competing demands and implementing an effective water management strategy has become essential.
At Intel, an increased focus on environmental issues came in the 1990s, as the computer industry grew rapidly. Since then, while their consumption of water has increased each year, so have their efforts to reduce the impact to local communities, according to Todd Brady, the company's global environmental manager.
For these efforts, in 2007, the US Environmental Protection Agency recognised the company as a water efficiency leader. And by 2011, some 80% of the water it used was recycled and sent back to local water systems, where it was used for irrigation, in other industrial purposes, or for drinking water. This journey, according to Brady, was a process of engaging employees, local communities and industry partners.
"The semi-conductor manufacturing process goes through hundreds of steps," Brady explained, "and in between those steps we have to rinse off the surface of the wafer with ultra-pure water." When searching for ways to reduce and reuse the water used in this process, one of the first places Intel looks is inside, soliciting ideas from the engineers who are closest to the manufacturing process.
Intel encourages employees to come forward with ideas on conserving resources, and then matches the best ideas with a grant to develop them. "We thought we would eventually run out of ideas, but the programme is still going strong," says Brady. Most of these innovations, he adds, not only save on resources but also money, providing a payback in three years or less.
Among environmental impacts, water use is a particularly local challenge, more so than greenhouse gas emissions, the impact of which may be several states away, says Brady. To compound this challenge, Intel has located several of its largest fabrication plants in areas that are particularly water-constrained, such as Arizona and Israel.
Rather than offer a one-size-fits-all approach, Intel attempts to tailor its water management solutions for each municipality in which it operates. "We engage with the community and the water districts early on to understand their needs, discuss our needs and find solutions that work for both of us," he says.
At the Israel location, for example, working with the local government, Intel was able to change some of the chemicals used in its manufacturing so the water from this process could be treated and reused for irrigation on local farms.
The company has also learned to be as transparent as possible. "By opening your books to what you are doing, you build trust. Otherwise there is suspicion and mistrust," says Brady.
Earlier this year, Intel collaborated with engineering firm CH2M Hill and Arizona State University to help develop the website WaterMatch. The idea is to maximise the reuse of so-called "greywater". This is wastewater that can be treated and reused for industrial or agricultural purposes, but not for drinking water.
The website, which is free to use, will match entities that have excess wastewater, like water treatment plants, with those that can use it in lieu of taking fresh water from local supplies. CH2M Hill showcased the website at World Water Week.
Intel has made steady progress to conserve the amount of water used in its manufacturing. Still, the company failed to meet its most recent goal to cut the water required per chip below 2008 levels by year-end 2011. The challenge, says Brady, is the pace of technical innovation and the increasing complexity of the products each year. As you pack more transistors on the chip, you increase the number of steps that use water to rinse and clean the chip, he explains.
The takeaway here for Intel and others, he says: "You must be proactive, be strategic in your thinking. You can't just look at issues year-to-year. You must consider where your business and products are going over the next decade and how you can intercept that to achieve the goals you've set."
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