Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1085636
March 2019 Water. desalination + reuse Far Site 29 WWF's Water Risk Filter upgrade: from analysis to response The refreshed Water Risk Filter from the World Wildlife Fund supports site- and corporate-level actions for mining and other industries MINING SITE- LEVEL DATA • 32 per cent of mining sites are exposed to very high reputational water-related risks • 18 per cent of sites face very high regulatory risks • 5 per cent of sites face very high physical risks The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is upgrading its Water Risk Filter (WRF) this year with a focus on mining companies. The organisa - tion is refreshing the platform with a variety of new data and functionality. The app collates national and global-level datasets about water availability in the world's water basins. Corporates may draw on and analyse the data in a variety of ways to help understand and take action on their water risk. The platform is expanding to cover the four steps of water stewardship: explore, assess, value and respond. The explore and assess sections are already established, respond launched in February and value will come later this year. The platform uses a range of peer-reviewed water risk data spanning physical, regulatory and reputational exposures. Corpo - Water stewardship indie accreditation The Alliance for Water Stewardship (A4WS) has developed a voluntary water stewardship accreditation standard for industry. The standard works along similar lines to the Fair Trade badge used by consumer goods companies. A4WS undertook a four-year process to develop a single standard that is applicable in all circumstances. The scheme's non- prescriptive approach provides a means for understanding water use and engaging in collaborative, catchment-level water stewardship. "It's a suite of tools that enables credible certification and market benchmarking," says A4WS chief executive Adrian Sym. "Our development process ensures global, multi-stakeholder engagement across government, civil society and industry." Sym says that, as an independent certification scheme, the standard "has more weight than an internally- defined set of practices. This includes recognition among local stakeholders, global investors and suppliers. We are asking companies to step out of their comfort zone." Industry schemes such as the International Council on Mining and Metals' water disclosure project could be seen as "cherry picking", he adds. rates are encouraged to upload portfolio data so that they can an- alyse, value and respond to risk at individual locations. The platform has 3,000 corporate users. The new respond section comprises 150 actions across 10 categories which address basin or operational risk. "We are moving on from risk as- sessment to guiding organisations to take effective action," explains Ariane Laporte-Bisquit, WRF project manager. The organisation wants to sup- port miners' site-specific response plans as well as corporate-level actions across an entire portfolio. Each action is linked to a water stewardship framework such as the CEO Water Mandate, Alliance for Water Stewardship, CDP Water Security, Ceres Aqua Guage and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The upgrade also takes ac - count of the Task Force on Climate- related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) agenda. The WWF has analysed asset- level data for 34 mining sites based on information from ratings agency Standard & Poor's. The results suggest that miners over-focus on water scarcity risk and that they underestimate reputational and regulatory exposures. The top three categories of response rec - ommended for mining companies were operations, performance measurement and management. The WWF's analysis found that the bulk of mining sites are in high overall water risk regions including in India, northern China, Peru, South Africa, the western United States and Australia. Further, it identified that miners of coal, bauxite, iron, gold, copper, lithium and titanium are likely to be exposed to high water risk. The value section of the app which is in development with Water Foundry iscoming later in 2019. Recommended response actions 0 5 10 15 20 Value chain engagement Stakeholder engagement Risk awareness Policies, standards & plans Operations, performance measurement & management Writer governance Disclosure and reporting Collective action Strategy and business planning Water awareness and internal capacity Number of actions triggered (ZLD) systems operating world- wide, including about 40 which are hybrids. "Most people think of ZLD as a brute force thermal application. Hybrids can be more efficient because incorpo - rating membranes reduces ther- mal footprint," Thakkar says. "Every mine site is differ- ent and every wastewater is potentially different. But, based on certain steps - whatever the dissolved solids or other con - stituents of concern - the system doesn't have to be the same. The concept is similar and the membrane approach replicable with differences in the chemical dosing," says Thakkar. "All of our systems are a little bit differ - ent, even if they are in the same state. We tailor the configura- tion of the treatment to fit the site." Continental Gold is on sched- ule to pour first gold at the Buritica site in 2020. The 75,684 hectares site has two veins of high quality gold. The miner anticipates a second phase of development which will include additional water treat- ment capacity. A third stage is also a possibility. Aquatech's modular approach will enable the water treatment capacity to scale up as required. Continental Gold is developing the existing, small-scale mine at Buritica, northwest Columbia, into a fully integrated mining and milling operation