Water Stewardship Certification: Promoting Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

This article discusses the idea of water stewardship certification in light of the fact that with the human population approaching 7 billion, the world is facing the limits of earth's freshwater resources. The article presents other issues that contribute to the problem of sustainability of the earth's water supply, and urges the implementation of best practices for environmental sustainability. The article provides an example of a water stewardship certification program that is being developed by the Alliance for Water Stewardship, and will foster adoption of business practices to improve social and environmental sustainability in water use globally. The concept of measuring the “water footprint” of a water user or group of users is discussed, along with methods for calculating a “water footprint”. A key target of the water stewardship certification program will be businesses and water utilities to encourage them to minimize their water footprints. The article discusses five characteristics of freshwater ecosystems that are critical to their health and sustainability, along with the influence of the water flow regime and the size of a business or utility's water footprint on freshwater ecosystems. Social measures of water stewardship are discussed, and critical issues related to the development of viable water stewardship standards are presented.