Less Than 1% of Earth's Water Is Usable | Here's Why That Matters for Your Business

Every year on March 22nd World Water Day shines a spotlight on the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. The focus this year is on the role water plays in sanitation and gender equality. While the UK recovers from the four named winter storms which contributed to flooding and an average 35% more rain in England than usual, water conservation may not be high on the list of priorities for businesses. This blog will suggest that it should be and will consider water security; how to avoid risks but seize opportunities and its relevance to gender equality.

Water Security

Planet Earth is often referred to as the “Blue Planet” given its abundance of water. However, 97% of that water is generally unusable salt water contained within our oceans and seas. Freshwater makes up the remaining 3%, but most of that is locked away in glaciers and ground water. According to The National Geographic less than 0.3% of that 3% of freshwater is available for use which is known as surface water found in lakes, rivers and swamps.

Water is obviously an essential resource for life on Earth. Human survival depends upon access to safe water for drinking and sanitation purposes as well as for crop irrigation. It is also used in multiple industrial processes. Unfortunately, we are not looking after this precious resource as well as we should. The Environment Agency in England concluded 69 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies in the last 11 years with Yorkshire Water being the most recent offender being fined £733,000 for 3 pollution incidents in under a year.

Last year, Leigh Day Solicitors launched, “The biggest legal claim ever brought in the UK over environmental pollution”. It is alleged that waste from poultry farming and sewage discharges by Welsh Water have resulted in "extensive and widespread pollution" affecting the Rivers Wye, Lugg and Usk.

Water security is also of great importance when considering the operation of datacentres. It is estimated that the UK already hosts 477 datacentres and is set to build about 100 more.  The Guardian has reported that the amount of water required for the hyperscale campus in Northumberland has been greatly underestimated. The initial plan for the first two data halls by the US operator QTS estimated annual water use to be 2.3 million litres, although the Guardian and Watershed Investigations believe it to be about 50 times higher at 124 million litres per year. When all ten planned data halls are in operation, this will leap to 621 million litres per year which equates to the average annual use of about 11,000 UK consumers.