The Water Risk Monetizer is an easy-to-use global tool to help businesses around the world assess water-related risks in financial terms based on readily available information about current water use and production projections at individual facility and enterprise levels.
Get started
As part of Ecolab’s Smart Water Navigator, the Water Risk Monetizer enacts a proven, four-step process to enhance business resilience at all levels of an organization through smart water management. To get started, register as user through the Smart Water Navigator.
Step 1: Identify
Enter information for as many facilities – active or for modeling purposes – as desired by selecting “Add New Facilities.” Click “Upload Multiple Facilities” for instructions on entering data for multiple facilities. Assess water-related risks by analyzing facility-level details on the Water Risk Monetizer Facility Dashboard and exploring the Enterprise Dashboard. To make viewing information easy on an enterprise scale across multiple industry sectors, assign facilities to folders. Within the Enterprise Dashboard, understand your organizational risk profile on the Risk Analysis tab and compare the performance of different sites within a portfolio on the Benchmarking tab.
Step 2: Target
On the Water Risk Monetizer Facility Dashboard, click on the Set Targets button for any given facility to discover what a sustainable annual water withdrawal target would be given current water withdrawal and baseline water stress.
Step 3: Implement
On an enterprise scale, visit the Enterprise Dashboard to prioritize facilities where action should be taken to improve water management practices. The Risk Analysis tab provides insight to business leaders to prioritize and determine appropriate risk mitigation strategies for each location to reduce a company’s overall risk profile. And the Benchmarking tab allows a way for business leaders to prioritize and determine appropriate water use efficiency strategies for each location to bring sites closer to the industry, or organizational, average water-intensity. Then, take the Water Action Assessment for high-priority sites to receive a practical, industry-specific guide to improve water management, use, target-setting and stewardship practices. Once improvement projects have been identified, return to the Investment Calculator for any given facility on the Water Risk Monetizer Facility Dashboard to prioritize water initiatives.
Step 4: Track
For any given facility on the Water Risk Monetizer Facility Dashboard, monitor water use over time by inputting multiple years of data and clicking on the facility Performance. Generate meaningful risk reports by downloading a facility-level report or generating an enterprise risk analysis report.
“You’ve got to have a plan. You have to know where you are, and that’s not just talking about your operations and your business, you have to understand your local watershed and the water quality that’s coming into that particular location. The Ecolab Smart Water Navigator has helped us develop that context-based plan and we are now putting it into action.”
–Walter Leclerc, Director of Environmental Occupational Health and Safety, Digital Realty
Use the Water Risk Monetizer to calculate risk and set targets
The Water Risk Monetizer charts a company’s enterprise risk profile by assessing each facility’s risk based on three-year projected output growth and location-specific water stress. The tool provides directional guidance based on risk that business leaders can use to determine how best to approach water management for specific facilities within the context of broader enterprise risk. The Water Risk Monetizer calculates:
- Total risk premium: monetary estimate of the full value of water to the facility
- Incoming water risks: monetary value of the impacts of incoming water use on human health and ecosystems and the future costs of incoming water treatment
- Outgoing water risk: monetary value of the impacts of outgoing water pollution on human health and ecosystems and the future costs of water treatment
- Potential revenue at risk: monetary value of the impacts of water availability based on water required to do business
- Water withdrawal risk: sustainable annual water withdrawal target to achieve a <40% risk threshold of water stress to a water basin
The Water Risk Monetizer does not predict whether water risks will be realized in a water bill or revenue loss. The incoming and outgoing water risk premiums, potential revenue at risk and water withdrawal risk should be used as components in a comprehensive risk assessment process and are intended to be refined based on local conditions and business particulars.
“The Water Risk Monetizer is a forward-thinking tool that helps businesses address the water scarcity and water quality challenges of the future. The tool provides valuable information to drive informed, long-term business strategy for companies that rely on freshwater resources. Applying principles of water risk assessment to investment decisions will help ensure that companies are ahead of the curve.”
—Marianne Balfe, Director of Energy and Environmental Sustainability, the Americas, Marriott International
The Water Risk Monetizer is easy to use
This short video shows you how it works.
How to use the information provided by the Water Risk Monetizer
The information provided by the Water Risk Monetizer can be used to help businesses around the world better understand water risks and the potential cost implications of water quantity and quality at a particular facility. The data provides valuable information to help assess different business models, determine how water costs or scarcity may affect growth plans and inform business goals.
See Take Action section for additional guidance.
