 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Water—Approach
Almost every day, there are new stories emphasizing the growing concerns for adequate supply of freshwater in the face of the reality of human influences, such as population growth, urbanization, land disturbance, and agricultural and industrial practices. This is driving increased scrutiny over the use and protection of freshwater resources, and industry must play a key role in establishing a sustainable balance in water use.
At Alcoa, we reinforce the concept that water is a key raw material that must be managed closely in terms of availability and cost. This will allow us to avoid business risk and remain welcomed in the communities where we currently operate or desire to grow.
In 2008, our reduction in freshwater use versus 2000 levels improved to 28%. However, we now know that our goal of a 60% reduction in water use by 2009 and 70% by 2010 from a base year of 2000 will not be met. The timelines for meeting this aggressive goal will be revised as we further investigate opportunities to achieve reductions where they are needed most.
Our efforts to reduce water use are based on a risk priority plan to take action first in regions where the issue is most sensitive. Our highest priority is currently in Australia, where the long run of reduced rainfall has considerably raised awareness to the need for water conservation.
We also continue to target the processes (refining and once-through ingot cooling) that use the most water on a relative basis. While our refineries in Western Australia attempt to capture and reuse as much water as possible, we are evaluating methods to capture water (and heat) lost through evaporation in production. For our ingot casting operations, we continue to explore innovative and more efficient recycling applications.
We are also re-evaluating quality requirements to assess the validity of using secondary sources of water in our processes. This will reduce both the need to extract freshwater and discharge water to the environment, giving us time to explore process changes that might lead to reduced water demand overall.
|
|
|
|
|
