Industry in context of its watershed

Water is a finite resource that needs to be shared between industry, the people who keep industry moving and the environment that sustains the whole process. Watershed, a natural habitat of water, is an area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet. The term is not restricted to surface water runoff and includes interactions with subsurface water and groundwater. Watersheds vary from the largest river basins to just acres or less in size. If we imagine a maple leaf the stalk of the leaf is the river and the veins threading into the stalk are the tributaries flowing into the river. The complete leaf represents a river drainage system, or watershed.

A watershed is also an ecosystem with interacting natural and societal components. The entire hydrological cycle and each component of this cycle occurs within a natural unit namely a 'watershed' and any economic development has to be planned and managed with respect to this natural unit for ensuring longterm sustainability.

Societal components within a watershed include a variety of stakeholders (interest and user groups) relying on natural resources. Their activities have a direct influence on water quantity and quality. Industry is one of the stakeholders in a watershed. The share of its dependency on the watershed depends upon its water demand, use, wastewater generation, use of other natural resources, etc, in contrast to other users chiefly agriculture and domestic. If the quality and quantity of the water decreases, it will have a negative impact on the immediate manmade and natural environment, and that will have a negative impact on the industry located within that particular watershed. The long-term availability of usable water for industrial purposes and the impact of that use on the watershed, will determine the long range well being of the area and the industry. Water resource protection is critical for industry.

With increased population growth and decreased environmental well being, some industry leaders have become aware that continued growth and prosperity is critically linked to becoming an essential water resource protection partner with the watershed community and government.

The watershed planning process hence strives to understand the needs and impacts of stakeholders on the natural functions of a watershed and provides a blueprint for making decisions regarding resource allocation, management and conservation. In order that watershed management is effective, plans need to be developed within a framework that outlines the current status of the watershed, principles, processes, and more importantly goals and vision for the watershed. Industrial water allocation within the view of the state specific legislation, regulation and policy needs to be arrived at.

When citing industrial facilities, the quantity and quality of the water resources to be impacted for industrial use, needs to be addressed. Traditionally, water resource management efforts focussed primarily on planning for basins or watersheds where problems existed. Now, with decreasing numbers of pristine resources, it is essential to be proactive and recognise the importance of also maintaining existing healthier water resource areas. Proactive water resource planning is more efficient than addressing problems associated with previously made, difficult or impossible to reverse, land use/water resource decisions. Variability in climate and hydrological systems can further complicate the issue (United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Background paper No 15, 1998).

Therefore, a key to the effective adoption of the watershed planning process is to have enabling framework in place and multi-stakeholder partnerships at all levels. A framework with this view reinforces the fact that nothing happens in isolation and that everything is connected by the land, climate and water within the watershed. Given the relationships and interdependencies that exist, a comprehensive, all-inclusive approach to considering the factors affecting water resources within a watershed need to be clearly understood and are, hence, considered within this framework. Any decisions regarding water resource management must be done in a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable manner. A balance between responsible voluntary initiatives and necessary uniform regulations will best be achieved by industry working with government and civil society, while recognising its impact in the watershed.