Water management is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The increasing effects of climate change will have a clear impact on the availability of usable water. The pressure on companies to manage water responsibly will therefore continue to increase. With ISO 14046, an international standard is available to accurately calculate the water footprint of products, processes and organizations.

For many companies, water use is one of the key aspects of their sustainability strategy and performance. In order to manage water use effectively, organizations need comparable and reliable data. The ISO 14046 standard provides principles, requirements and guidelines for conducting a water footprint assessment, and reporting the results.

INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OF THE WATER FOOTPRINT
While the results of a water footprint assessment can be used for internal purposes, many companies share the results with their business partners:

• As part of a sustainability report
• To make claims about the water efficiency of a product or process
• To satisfy information needs of clients

Independent verification by a competent third-party like DQS provides the assurance that the reported figures are accurate and trustworthy. The independent verification also helps improve rating results, for example in the Water Security scoring of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

The verification can be done as a standalone assessment, or as part of an external assurance assessment on an entire sustainability report.

WHY DQS?
As a certification and assessment body, DQS has a long-standing tradition as a credible and neutral third party. Ever since the founding of DQS in 1985, we have relied on a large network of highly qualified assessors, who combine their in-depth knowledge of standards and methodologies with first-hand experience in the relevant industry sector.