AWS Water Stewardship

Overview of AWS Water Stewardship

Water stewardship is defined as using water in a way that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial. This is achieved through a stakeholder inclusive process that involves site and catchment based actions.

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) is dedicated to the stewardship of water worldwide and their vision is a water-secure world enabling people, culture, businesses, and nature to prosper.

AWS is a global collaboration comprising businesses, NGOs and the public sector. Members contribute to the sustainability of local water-resources through their adoption and promotion of a universal framework for the sustainable use of water – the International Water Stewardship Standard – that drives, recognizes and rewards good water stewardship.

The AWS Water Stewardship Forum 2024

The AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum takes place every year in Edinburgh. Their website states that members, implementers and stakeholders share knowledge and learning on the evolution of water stewardship practice and forge new directions through dialogue and partnerships.

Main sponsors including the World Wildlife Fund and AstraZeneca; some of the funding members including Apple, Nestle, Unilever, as well as major retailers.

The programme for 2024, running on 5 / 6 June, will encompass:

• Water stewardship and the wider world.
o Connecting water to climate action and other initiatives.
o Creating connections and incentives for water stewardship through policy engagement.
• Convergence within the water stewardship community.
o Collective action in critical catchments.
• Knowledge and learning from best practice experiences.
o AWS Standards review, revision and assurance system updates.

What is the AWS Standard?

The AWS International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard) is a globally applicable framework for major water users to understand their water use and impacts, and to work transparently for sustainable water management within a catchment context.

The Standard is intended to drive social, environmental and economic benefits.
It achieves this by engaging water-using sites in understanding and addressing shared water challenges as well as site water risks and opportunities. It asks water-using sites to address these challenges in a way that progressively moves them to best practice in terms of:

• Good water governance
• Sustainable water balance
• Good water quality status
• Important water-related areas (marine life, etc)
• Safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all (WASH)

This standard can be implemented by any site, in any sector, in any catchment area around the world and is supported by an Assurance system which also supports claims and the use of the AWS logo.

Essentially, although a self-certification, it enables holders to claim higher standards in their stewardship of water resources and water management, be this in industry or government.

Importance of Sustainable Water Management

At Arvia Technology, we are at the forefront of developments in water conservation through recycling and welcome every move towards putting water stewardship high on the conservation agenda.

Without fresh water, industry and trade will eventually grind to a halt and populations will start to starve. Water is a finite resource and the one of the building blocks of life.

Climate change, population growth, increased urbanisation, geo-political pressures and even the effects of the pandemic are all increasing pressure on reliable water supplies. Every year more parts of the world are deemed to be under water stress.

One of the keys to reduce this is increased industrial water reuse. Recent years have shown remarkable progress in treatment science and with it, the possibility of many previously untreatable compounds contained in wastewater being brought down to trace levels.

Of the competing technologies now being developed, the most promise is shown by electrochemistry. Compact and powerful new systems can often be placed in-line with existing plant to offer high-quality water treatment at source, allowing water to be re-used many times within a facility.

How Arvia can Help with Water Stewardship

Arvia Technology’s range of water treatment systems are specifically designed to remove some of the most toxic and dangerous compounds from wastewater. These include agrochemicals, battery chemicals, pharmaceuticals, numerous chemical ingredients and corrosion inhibitors.

Using a unique combination of electrochemistry and adsorption, together with their patented Nyex media, Avia’s proven reactors are capable of reducing many industrial pollutants down to parts per trillion – all without adding any corrosive chemicals, using vast amounts of electricity or even contributing to landfill.

Rather than trucking water away to get incinerated – with all the added pollution this causes – many manufacturing companies could be using next-generation water treatment systems like Arvia’s Nyex Rosalox™ and Ellenox™ reactors to clean up their wastewater.

These can make a real difference in reducing water consumption and scarcity and we believe regulators need to take notice of these recent developments in water recycling and act accordingly.

In conclusion, we hope that during the AWS Water Stewardship forum this June, water conservation and recycling is highlighted as a viable tool for conservation.

More featured articles

Our wastewater treatment expertise

Our water technology can be used to treat a variety of water treatment applications. Once we understand the nature of your wastewater and your final water quality target, our water treatment specialists can make recommendations as to how best to treat your water. Take a look at some of the Nyex applications here:

Need help? Speak with an expert