- 150 companies will affect a third of the world’s water usage.
- For every dollar invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic benefit of between $3 and $34.
- The African water crisis has exacerbated poverty levels and derailed development.
Water management is a fundamental necessity for modern development in every country. Water waste must become a thing of the past, and growing your business is to hold hands on solving the water crisis.
These are the views of Christophe Beck, chairman and CEO of US-based Ecolab, which provides a wide range of water management and sanitary products and services ranging from disinfectants and cleaning substances to hydrotherapy systems.
“EcoLab was founded in 1923 and has served customers in over 170 countries to date,” the proud CEO said.
Ecolab, or Economics Laboratory, has begun serving the restaurant industry. Currently, the company has a staff base of over 48,000 people, serving more than 40 industries, with annual revenues of over USD 1.6 billion. Recently, the company has expanded its services to data centers. There, among its services, we offer tip cooling solutions that minimize water use.
In a recent interview, CEO Ecolab spoke about how he created a high-performance team by managing business complexity, establishing a culture of innovation, and pursuing a diverse workforce. This is where African governments and businesses can learn in the best modern ways to solve the continental water crisis.
“Part of EcoLove’s mission is to focus on water and protect the essential resources of people and lives. It is to address the rarity of water, as there is no life, business growth or future without water,” the CEO said.
Successful birthers and leaders have no opposed to clean water, but the problem has raised the point that today’s methods of using water are linear, using water and throwing it away, saying, “…it doesn’t work in the long run.”
“If you put all the water on Earth in one bubble together, that bubble will be just over 800 miles wide. But if you look at the surface water, including lakes and streams, you’ll get about 35 miles of bubbles. That’s all we have. Water,” he projected.
“When he tried to understand the true impact of business on water use, he explained:
“This is very good news because you can get 150 companies per room. That’s what we’re doing with the Water Resilience Coalition,” the CEO explained.
The Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) is a CEO-led initiative to deal with the global water crisis. Beck explains that the WRC is working to increase its actions to raise the rise in water stress and its relationship to climate change to the top of the global corporate agenda.
“WRC members work to maintain the world’s freshwater resources through collective action and ambitious and quantifiable goals in water-focused basins. We are the CEO Watermandate initiative between the United Nations Global Compact and the Pacific Institute. ” he explains in detail.
Water management experts explained that reducing water usage will reduce energy usage as up to 75% of the energy used in manufacturing plants is used to manage water, heat water, heat water, process water, pump water, and pump water out.
“So we’re reducing water usage, reducing energy usage, and reducing costs,” the CEO said.
It sounds logical and simple, so why haven’t there been any more action taken on something so specific and feasible?
Beck believes that in their first challenge, many business owners (and policymakers) will be offered at net cost to tackle water storage, reuse and recycling.
“It is this supposed net cost that they are not interested in undertaking because of the misconception that water is a low-cost, endless resource…but we know that’s not,” explains Beck.
Beck warns that the misconceptions of water were endless resources that hinder actions towards water management.
“Water may be inexpensive, but we can’t produce more,” he warned.
“EcoLab demonstrates that reducing pure water usage is a smart and financially responsible business decision in the short term. It’s not a major investment in which the recovery is five years from now, with water management, and the impact will be immediate,” he argued.
He then pointed out that many people are not aware that there is already a technology to solve water management problems.
“We’re not starting from scratch. We don’t need to innovate in the future to understand this. We can do that today,” he said.
He cites an industry that uses vast amounts of water indifferently. In the microelectronics field, chips are manufactured through a process known as manufacturing. Microelectronics is an electronics field that deals with the design and manufacturing of small electronic devices.smicroprocessors, etc. These facilities are also known as Semiconductor manufacturing plants, It is important for producing chips that power electronic devices such as smartphones and computers.
“One such manufacturing plant uses as much water as the drinking needs of around 17 million people. And all of these few manufacturers around the world have huge wastewater treatment plants,” Beck explained in detail.
He explained that. “What we need to think about that is that wastewater is an engineering defect. There is no wastewater. We need to reuse and recycle the water within the production process. If we step through the water in stages with the right technology, we can produce chips at a greater cost,” he summed up.
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Water management, Africa’s crisis
Sector experts say that dealing with the African water crisis requires a multifaceted approach focusing on improving water management, innovation and community engagement. This includes Implementing Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), investing in infrastructure, promoting water conservation, developing innovative solutions such as stormwater harvesting and wastewater recycling.
“Strengthening policy and governance and promoting international cooperation are essential to sustainable water management,” UNICEF says.
Despite the continent’s vast lakes, rivers and groundwater preparations, many communities struggle to access clean and safe water, according to UNICEF.
The agency explains how rapid population growth, climate change and declining water management have strengthened the water crisis, making it one of Africa’s most pressing environmental and humanitarian issues today.
“Infrastructure development, maintenance efforts and innovative solutions are needed to address this challenge,” UNICEF said. It is in the innovative solutions that companies like EcoLab offer solutions to the African water crisis.
UNICEF emphasizes that Africa’s dirty water sources often range from villages, forcing many healthy communities to find and transport water for hours each day. Jerry, a typical container used for African water collection, weighs over 40 pounds when fully filled.
“Imagine how tough it is to carry what’s the equivalent of a five-year-old for three hours a day. And some women carry up to 70 pounds in barrels carried on their backs. It’s like carrying a baby hippo,” says UNICEF.
“The United Nations estimates that sub-Saharan Africa alone will collect 400 billion hours of water per year, just like the whole French labor force has done for a year. This is incredibly valuable time.”
Water Project Management points out that. “There are not many other times for the majority of days that are already consumed by meeting basic needs. The time lost to collect water often allows you to trade and earn a living.
NGOs say that sustainable agriculture is possible when aqueous solutions are introduced. Instead of collecting dirty water all day, or getting sick from a waterborne illness, children return to school. Similarly, parents look after their families, expanding minimal agriculture to sustainable levels, and finding time to run small businesses.
The social and economic impacts caused by the lack of clean water must be a top priority for African communities. According to the World Health Organization, for every dollar invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic benefit of between $3 and $34!
