Sunday 22 March marks the 15th anniversary of International World Water Day. Held annually, the event is a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
The amount of water equivalent to cartons of
fruit juice each Aviva employee uses in a year.
Sunday 22 March marks the 15th anniversary of International World Water Day. Held annually, the event is a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Back in 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) recommended an international day to celebrate freshwater. And the UN General Assembly soon responded by designating 22 March, 1993 as the first-ever World Water Day.
Fair share
Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. For 2009, the theme is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities" with a special focus on the issue of trans-boundary waters.
Sharing water resources is a vital opportunity to help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries. And that can promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth.
Ambitious target
At Aviva, we have our own role to play in water consumption. In a "best practice" office, each colleague would use around 7.7m3 of water per year. But, although many of our businesses are reaching that benchmark figure, our overall average usage is 12m3.
"Last year, we had a water consumption target of reducing by 2%," explains Zelda Bentham, environment manager. "The target has been increased this year to a 4% reduction - that's because a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the management of this resource. As well as a reduced environmental impact, there'll be a financial benefit to the company."
So what does 12m3 (our average yearly consumption per person) of water actually look like? It's the equivalent to 12,000 cartons of fruit juice. That's how much water we use each year, within our working hours alone.
Flushed with success
As a business, we've obviously still got work to do in terms of our water consumption. That's why we're currently working on water-saving projects around the world. In the UK, for instance, we've recently trialled some water saving solutions.
The Energy and Utilities Team (E&UT) identified that at least 90% of water used within a typical office is literally flushed away through toilets, urinals or hand basins. So we targeted these three areas for reduction at Willow House in Norwich. Among the solutions tried were Interflush for toilets, Ecoclear low water urinals and flow straighteners for taps in sink basins.
Our global initiatives
Meanwhile, we recently installed a sewage treatment plant at Aviva India's head office. Recycled (or "grey" water) from the office was also used in the toilet cisterns and for watering the garden. So now we're not drawing as much water from the mains supply.
In Australia, we've launched a water/energy efficiency rebate offer for all colleagues to encourage sustainable environmental practices at home as well as at work. And we're now matching the government water efficiency and renewable energy rebates up to AUD$300.
Finally, Aviva Canada installed an exterior timed watering system at our head office complex in Toronto. The result? A 14,645m3 reduction in water consumption.
The big picture
Zelda is also keen to stress that water consumption plays a key role in the overall battle against climate change.
"With the changing climate, the distribution of quality freshwater is also growing more erratic - whether it's reduced flow of glacial melt-water into rivers, increasing salinity in groundwater, scarcity of water areas which traditionally had sufficient supplies or increased intensity of rainfall where moderate rainfall was once the norm," she concluded.
"Each of these changes brings their own challenges which can't be solved quickly or in isolation. So it's more important than ever that we manage our water resources effectively, using only what we need and focusing on technologies that supply our needs in a more efficient way."