WSA Information Paper No. 1 The International Water Stewardship Standard v.1 Prepared 8 April 2014 Water stewardship is defined as water use that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process. The framework for implementing water stewardship is set out in the International Water Stewardship Standard version 1 (IWSS). The standard was developed by a 16-member multistakeholder group that represented both a cross-section of global regions and a cross-section of stakeholder interests. Members were drawn from business and corporate water interests, from civil society and from public sector water managers and policy-makers. The standard was released in April 2014. Site-level action that can generate catchment level impact The standard was designed to be implemented at a water-using site – be it an agricultural operation, a processor or manufacturer, a commercial or institutional site. It requires site-level action framed by an understanding of catchment issues, based on four Principles. This understanding is best achieved through cooperation and partnerships between users and between users and catchment managers, natural resource management agencies and civil society groups. Four Principles of Water Stewardship Underpinning the IWSS are the four principles of water stewardship. These are: Sustainable Water Balance (quantity and flow)1 Good Water Quality Healthy Important Water Related Areas Good Water Governance Six Steps to Good Water Stewardship The Standard sets out a 6 steps for achieving good water stewardship (Figure 1). This is based on an ISO quality assurance process and is designed to encourage both innovation and continuous improvement in water performance. Each step is supported by indicators of compliance (see Table 1 next page). Compliance can be verified by accredited independent conformity assessment bodies to gain market recognition through claims of compliance. Incentives are provided to stimulate innovation by providing core, gold and platinum criteria for accreditation. 1 Figure 1: Six steps for good water stewardship Water balance was used rather than flow though recognition that water can be recycled, evaporated, discharged to a river, pumped from an aquifer or exported from the site in the form of virtual water. STEP AWS Core Criteria AWS Advanced-Level Criteria 1.1 Establish a leadership commitment on water stewardship 1.3 Further the Alliance for Water Stewardship 1.2 Develop a water stewardship policy 1.4 Commit to other initiatives that advance effective water stewardship 3 1.5 Secure a water stewardship commitment from the site’s or organization’s most senior executive or site’s or organization’s governance body 1 1.6 Prioritize communities’ rights to water 8 2.1 Define the physical scope 2.2 Identify stakeholders, their water-related challenges and site’s sphere of influence 2.3 Gather water-related data for the catchment 2.8 Support and undertake joint water-related data collection 4 2.9 Gather additional, detailed water-related data 3 2.10 Review a formal study on future water resources scenarios 3 2.4 Gather water-related data for the site 2.11 Conduct a detailed indirect water use evaluation 7 2.5 Improve the site’s understanding of its indirect water use 2.12 Understand groundwater status or environmental flows and the site’s potential contributions 10 2.6 Understand shared water-related challenges in the catchment 2.13 Complete a voluntary Social Impact Assessment 3 3.1 Develop a system that promotes and evaluates water-related legal compliance 3.5 Gain stakeholder consensus on the site’s water stewardship targets 7 3.2 Create a site water stewardship strategy and plan 3.3 Demonstrate responsiveness and resilience to water-related risks into the site’s incident response plan 3.6 Develop a formal plan for climate change adaptation 6 4.1 Comply with water-related legal and regulatory requirements 4.9 Achieve best practice results on site water balance 8 4.2 Maintain or improve site water balance 4.10 Achieve best practice results on site water quality 8 4.3 Maintain or improve site water quality 4.11 Achieve best practice results on Important Water-Related Areas through restoration 8 4.4 Maintain or improve the status of the Important Water-Related Areas 4.12 Achieve best practice results, and strengthen capacity, in water governance 8 4.5 Participate positively in catchment governance 4.13 Advance regionally-specific industrial water-related benchmarking 3 4.6 Maintain or improve indirect water use within the catchment 4.7 Provide access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene awareness (WASH) for workers on site 4.14 Re-allocate saved water for social or environmental needs 6 COMMIT GATHER & UNDERSTAND Points 3 (9) 2.7 Understand and prioritize the site’s water risks and opportunities PLAN 3.4 Notify the catchment authority of the site’s water stewardship plans IMPLEMENT 4.8 Notify the owners of shared water-related infrastructure of any concerns EVALUATE 4.15 Engage in collective action to address shared water challenges 4.16 Drive reduced indirect water use throughout the site’s supply chain and outsourced water-related service providers 4.17 Complete implementation of water-related initiatives 8 (14) 5 (7) 3 4.18 Provide access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene awareness off-site 5 5.1 Evaluate the site’s water stewardship performance, risks and benefits in the catchment context 5.5 Executive or governance body-level review of water stewardship efforts 3 5.2 Evaluate water-related emergency incidents and extreme events 5.6 Conduct a formal stakeholder evaluation 6 5.3 Consult stakeholders on water-related performance 5.4 Update water stewardship and incident response plans COMMUNICATE & DISCLOSE 6.1 Disclose water-related internal governance 6.6 Disclose water risks to owners (& align w/disclosure frameworks) 6.2 Disclose annual site water stewardship performance 6.7 Implement a program for water education 4 6.3 Disclose efforts to address shared water challenges 6.8 Discuss site-level water stewardship in the organization’s annual report 2 6.4 Drive transparency in water-related compliance 6.5 Increase awareness of water issues within the site Table 1: Table of International Water Stewardship Standard Criteria and points for Advanced Criteria 4 (6) Three Levels of Performance Encourage Continuous Improvement The Standard’s structure allows for increasing levels of performance in water stewardship. This is recognized by Core, Gold and Platinum levels. At the Core level, all criteria are required. At the advanced levels, criteria have points attached to them, which reflect both the degree of effort required and the anticipated impact. Points are set out in the right hand column of Table 1 on the previous page. The aggregation of points results in Gold or Platinum level performance. Higher levels require compliance with all core criteria plus a number of points from optional criteria. Table 2: AWS International Water Stewardship Standard Levels Level Conformity with Core Criteria Cumulative Advanced-Level Criteria Points AWS Core Required 0-39 AWS Gold Required 40-79 AWS Platinum Required 80+ Water Stewardship Theory of Change The Standard is based upon a logical sequence of how water stewardship can be driven from site-level actions to result in catchment level impacts. This “Theory of Change” is illustrated below. Figure 2: The AWS Standard Theory of Change Verification of Performance The IWSS can be used in a number of ways. It can be used as an internal self-assessment tool. WSA training or WSA accredited consultants can help major water users assess their current performance against the standard and develop improvement programs where required. Claims of compliance with the IWSS can be made where an independent accredited conformity assessment body has assessed these claims. WSA and the global umbrella group, the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), will be nominating a panel of conformity assessment bodies in the second half of 2014. It will also be finalising processes that these bodies will need to follow in their verification of sites seeking to make claims of compliance and the use of either the WSA or AWS logos when making those claims. Further information Contact: Water Stewardship Australia Post: PO Box 184, East Melbourne, Vic. 8002 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.waterstewardship.org.au Tel: Michael Spencer, Executive Secretary, 0439 381144 Alliance for Water Stewardship Web: www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org
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