Water is now a business issue
Will that make a difference to the speed at which the issue is addressed?
It feels like we’re sleepwalking into a water catastrophe.
The population is growing and urbanising. The aquifers are being drunk dry. Rainfall patterns have changed leaving water supply systems starved or inundated. Investment in water infrastructure assumes that assets will last 100 years, which they won’t.
We’ve had warnings: like when Cape Town nearly ran out of water. But they haven’t changed the equation.
In From Droughts to Floods, Water Risk Is an Urgent Business Issue the Harvard Business Review recommends that companies assess water-related risks and take action to address those risks.
It should be noted that the article is authored by the founders of Waterplan “a San Francisco-based tech company providing the most advanced climate platform to monitor and mitigate water risk.”
But the interesting question is whether businesses, as they are more affected by water risk, will drive quicker change in the water industry. And whether industry regulation will ensure that the needs of this key customer group are met reliably.
If water crises are not to become more common, something needs to change in the rate at which the water industry makes itself resilient. So that businesses in turn can be resilient.