A combination of technology, conservation and efficient use of water can help avoid a global shortage, according to Paul Dean of The Dow Chemical Co. Dean testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water and The Environment about Dow’s policies to reduce, recycle and reuse water for manufacturing and how Dow is managing its water resources. The testimony was Thursday, May 22. Dow was invited to offer testimony by Representative John J. Duncan, Jr., chairman of the subcommittee, because of Dow’s leadership in managing water at its global manufacturing sites.
"We tended to think of water as inexpensive, plentiful and clean," Dean told the subcommittee members. "But since 1940, water consumption has quadrupled and will continue to increase as the world’s population grows." According to the United Nations Geo 2000 Report, four billion of the world’s people are expected to have insufficient water by 2050. A Dow site in Texas faced a severe water shortage during the drought of 2000. "For us, the idea that water was cheap and plentiful was shattered. In order to ensure a long-term source of water for our plants, we would have to work within the entire basin and in ways we had never thought of before," Dean said.
Dow has since consolidated water activities under a single business unit focused on managing water rights, conveyance, treatment and use for the entire company.
Source: The Dow Chemical Co.
