This past week SABMiller and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a report: “Water Footprinting: Identifying & Addressing Water Risks in the Value Chain.”

This is a big deal, and let me explain why.

SABMiller recognizes that water is a key business risk and they opted to be transparent in addressing this issue. Although corporate water strategies, water footprint and “offset approaches” are in their infancy (similar to the carbon and climate change issue and methodology several years ago), the attention businesses are giving to water is accelerating.

The SABMiller and WWF UK report focused on the entire value chain for SABMiller’s beers in South Africa and the Czech Republic. The results indicate that in South Africa, the total water footprint is equivalent to 155 liters of water for every 1 liter of beer, and in the Czech Republic it is significantly smaller at 45 liters of water to every 1 liter of beer. In both cases, the majority of the footprint (over 90 percent) is from the cultivation of crops, both local and imported (virtual water movement).

The goal of the water footprint effort is to “understand the “quantity, efficiency and geographical context of water used to produce beer in order that this resource can then be better managed.” The value chain (both indirect and direct) examined stretches from crop cultivation and processing, to brewing and distributing the beer. Moreover, the water footprinting effort not only examined water quantity but also highlighted issues of water quality.

A few key conclusions from the evaluation:

• Water footprinting methodologies are currently being developed and refined.
• Water footprints differ significantly between agricultural growth regions;
• There is significant complexity in calculating the impact of one water footprint versus another on the environment and on communities;
• Water footprints are not yet effective tools for helping consumers choose between different products;
• Water footprinting can be useful as a business tool in identifying the scale of water use in water-scarce areas and related potential business risks.
• The real value of a water footprint is that it can assist businesses to make better operational decisions concerning facility management, supply chain management and stakeholder engagement with the goals of reducing risk and improving environmental sustainability performance; and
• Where the water is used must be considered along with the total volume of water used.

What does this mean for your business? The bottom line is that determining your water footprint may be as critical for your business as calculating your carbon (and energy) footprint. This is especially the case if you are in the food and beverage industry. Moreover, determining a high level view of your water footprint will help to identify your business risks (and opportunities) and is just the starting point as methodology is evolving in a similar fashion as greenhouse gas accounting evolved over the past several years.

The time to start is now.