Hi Kaustubh, I hope this ...
Published by Dave Johnstone
Hi Kaustubh, I hope this helps..
Saying you are estimating your organizations water footprint would imply that you are estimating the consumption of water across your supply chain. This is a very difficult thing to do and does not look like what you are doing from the other information you are looking for. Maybe reconsider what you are doing..
Benchmarks like consumption per person & cooling in IT can be misleading and also close peoples minds to what may be possible. A lot of "quoted" data is for building design purposes & hence conservative. Then there are technical issues which drive consumption which are difficult to normalize for different circumstances. For example the water consumed for cooling would be a function of the demand you need to satisfy (the heat you need to remove), the climatic conditions, the water quality, condition of the equipment, the behavior of people etc.
Assuming you are simply "looking for ways to reduce the water consumption at organization level" I would suggest a different approach. Measure what you consume and put this into perspective and directly meaningful to your employees. For example (and apologies for another possibly bad assumption L&T means Larson & Toubro in India) Per employee how much water do you consume compared to the average inhabitant of India, or how many they may be depriving of water. Then engage them in how they can individually make a difference but be ready with "levers" (things they can do & influence) and a score board of how they are doing.
1 Comment
Dear Dave - @Dave Johnstone
Many thanks for your inputs. It is indeed valuable. I am from Larsen & Toubro, India. We have done the water footprint mapping and also made quite good progress in reducing water consumption. I am looking for per person domestic water consumption in IT sector. In india the norms for water supply in residential area is 135 liters/person/day, however it varies from 50 lits to 150 lit/persons/day in cities and within localities.
I am looking for a benchmark in IT industry for per person water consumption. An employee spends average 8 to 10 hrs in office and IT unit has other recreational facilities for employees as well. We already have segregated pipelines and meters (fresh & recycled water) and measure the consumption (at some places on hourly basis) and have reduced water intensity at company level by 12% in last three years (more details at sustainabilityreport.larsentoubro.com). I intend to set a target and need to decide with technical inputs rather than assumptions. As for CO2 and energy their are quantified targets (for absolute and intensity values), however for water these are missing.
Hence your further inputs are encouraged on water footprint.
Regards,
Kaustubh
Published by Kaustubh Phadke, Sustainability & Environmental Engineering Professional