In 2016, the Living Planet report, prepared by the World Life Foundation (WWF), indicated that in 2012, human lifestyles were consuming the equivalent of one and a half planet Earths’ worth of resources. One of the resources that suffers most from human activity is water. Irrigation for agriculture, energy generation, industrial consumption and domestic demand are areas of high demand – and demand continues to increase. The most recent data from the UN shows that, by 2025 (seven years from now), if consumption patterns continue the same, two-thirds of the world’s population could face water shortages in their homes.
Using the equivalent of 22% of all the water in the world, the industrial sector knows that its activities contribute to this bleak scenario. For this reason, more and more companies have been investing in new ways to treat and reuse their effluents, in an attempt to reduce the impacts of their activities. At Braskem, one of the most successful cases is the Aquapolo Project, in ABC Paulista – a partnership between BRK Ambiental and Sabesp that allows the acquisition and treatment of domestic sewage water in industrial activities. The initiative allowed us to increase the rate of reused water in the region, which today is close to 100%; and it also allowed us to operate normally even during the severe drought in the Brazilian Southeast in 2015.
The industry can also use the resources and support for innovation available within its structure to create solutions that allow the highest consumption markets (agricultural, sanitation and industrial) to improve the efficiency of their processes and, therefore, save resources. This is the case of Mulching technology, a polyethylene plastic film to cover the soil that can help the agricultural sector reduce its consumption of fresh water (currently estimated at 70% of the planet's reserves). Another good example is a new polyethylene resin, developed in the laboratory of Braskem's Technology and Innovation Center, intended for pipes and adductors. With a durability of 100 years (compared to 50 years for conventional resin), it is an important contribution to solving losses in the Brazilian water distribution system – currently estimated at 38%.
Finally, the private sector needs to raise awareness outside its walls and work on engagement throughout its chain (suppliers and customers), in addition to seeking support from different levels of society to discuss public policies that encourage the reuse of sewage and treated effluents, the reuse of rainwater and other measures that can guarantee water reliability for society. A good model to follow is the project Movimento Menos Perda Mais Água (Less Loss, More Water Movement), launched by the Global Compact Brazil Network (an entity linked to the UN) which, since 2015, has been working to reduce losses in the national distribution network.
I will return to the UN figure I mentioned at the beginning of the text: in seven years, two-thirds of the world’s population will suffer from a lack of water in their lives. The question, therefore, is no longer “if”, but when we will deal with this problem. Using available water resources in a rational and planned way, whether for domestic, industrial or agricultural purposes, is possible. However, it requires the cooperation of everyone – government, society and the private sector – in a joint effort to create new solutions at the speed at which we need them.
