World Water Day 2024: Water for Peace

World Water Day, observed annually on March 22, serves as a powerful reminder of the critical role water plays in our lives. This year, the theme for World Water Day is “Water for Peace.” Water, a precious resource, has the potential to either create harmony or cause conflict. When water is scarce, polluted, or unevenly distributed, there is a social cost that often impacts disadvantaged communities. These impacts are significant given that about half of the world’s population experiences water scarcity for part of the year^[1]. 

As climate change intensifies and populations grow, it becomes imperative for countries to come together to protect and conserve this vital resource. Our collective well-being — public health, prosperity, food security, energy systems, and environmental integrity — hinges on well-managed water resources. At Solenis, we recognize the significance of water to promote sustainability and foster peace.  

World Water Day gives us the opportunity to step back, look at the global situation, and recognize the radical inequities in access to clean water and sanitation. We’ve made progress, but there are still 2.2 billion people living without access to clean water and 115 million people who drink untreated surface water^[2]. The social costs are significant in places like sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls spend an estimated 40 billion hours a year collecting water for their families 3. Diseases caused by unsanitary conditions and unsafe water lead to an estimated loss of 400 million days of schooling for children around the world^[1].  

In our own operations, water conservation is a key focus. The Solenis target for water is to reduce consumption 5% by 2030. The Diversey water reduction target is part of a Net Positive approach where we seek to find water savings for customers more than the net water used in internal operations. For 2022, Diversey estimated almost 10 billion gallons of water savings for customers. 

We not only advocate for collective efforts towards the responsible use and conservation of water, but we also help our customers with their water stewardship efforts. Last year, Solenis acquired Diversey, expanding our reach and scale to improve water conservation globally. Our business now touches more water than it ever has before.  

Solenis helps our customers save water every day around the world. Here are a few examples of solutions that promote good water stewardship. 

• A large petroleum refinery utilized ChargePac™ 312 Liquid Coagulant, enabling the annual recycling of an additional 257.4M gallons of water. 
• A petrochemical plant used a corrosion and deposit inhibitor from Solenis to improve system cleanliness and optimized water utilization to reduce water consumption 18,000 cubic meters per year. 
• We’ve helped mining operations in Latin America to implement an alternative polymer program for water treatment to save water. 
• At a paper mill, Solenis helped with the installation of an ultrasonic bed depth monitor and chemical automation on the plant’s raw water clarifier, resulting in water savings of 1,300,000 gallons annually. 
• Residential pools using Solenis HTH Calcium Hypochlorite to shock-treat weekly, rather than alternative shock treatments, can save up to 600 gallons of water per pool. The potential water savings are estimated to be 25 billion gallons of water per year globally. 
• As part of the Solenis ValueAdvantage℠ program, our team members helped customers achieve water savings of 8.2M gallons in 2023.
• Diversey’s Clax Advanced low-temperature laundry program has been shown to reduce water consumption by up to 35% in hotels. 
• Diversey has also integrated water savings technologies in equipment, such as TASKI’s IntelliFlow, which reduces water up to 72% in floor cleaning when compared to conventional autoscrubbers.  
• In breweries, Diversey’s clean-in-place technologies can reduce water consumption 30-40%. 

The examples above illustrate an important point about the global water conservation effort — it requires many different organizations, collaborating on many different fronts, incorporating diverse solutions, to solve this pervasive problem. Today, more than ever, Solenis reaffirms our commitment to responsible use, customer partnerships, and water-saving innovations.  

Explore Solenis’ commitment to water stewardship and sustainability. Visit our sustainability section to learn how we’re making a difference. 

References

[1] Greater Access to Cell Phones Than Toilets in India: UN - United Nations University 

[2] Collecting and carrying water burdensome reality for women | UN Women – Headquarters