Conduct a Gap Analysis

Whether you’re measuring yourself against an international standard or corporate goals, a gap analysis will help you identify what you already know and do, and what you need to learn more about.

You should come away with a prioritized road map to guide your future actions and support consistency between your sites to facilitate reporting requirements.

Develop a Sitewide Water Balance

Understanding your water use, demands and constraints at site forms a critical foundation to build from. Examining these elements by month and season, storage and transport needs, and water quality in addition to quantity are all part of each mine site’s water balance.

Additional Resources

Initiating Water Stewardship

Consider Climate

Mines by nature must take a long-term view of their sites, well past production years. What impacts will a changing climate have on your water use, generation and quality over the years and decades? Having reliable climate data and a defensible method of applying it means you can design and plan for those impacts and quantify and reduce the risk that climate presents to your operation and to the water in your region.

Undertake a Regional Water Balance

A regional, or catchment-wide, water balance looks at your operation in the context of the bigger picture; this may build upon work done when initially assessing the impacts of your mine. How do your activities overlap or affect others in the catchment? What communities, industries and ecosystems rely on the water in your region? Who has too little water, who has too much, how is it being used, where are there water quality concerns? Collaboration and engagement with all water stakeholders is the focus here to understand current uses, generation and needs.

Additional Resources

Actioning Water Stewardship

Planning for Climate Change and Water Resilience
Actionable Steps on Climate Change Risk for Glencore

Create a Sustainable Water Plan

This isn’t just about water security for your operation, though that’s a definite benefit, it’s also about the community and environment around you. Now that you know all the stakeholders and their needs through the regional water balance, where can you optimize for the benefit of all? There’s no silver bullet, this is a time to get innovative with your regional water stakeholders.

You may explore: Beneficial water reuse, collective action, water efficiency programs, reallocation of excess water, etc.

Monitor & Report

In addition to your regular water monitoring, you will want to really evaluate how well you’re doing against your plan, and determine if it is giving you the outcomes you expected. Transparency in your objectives, but also your progress, is required. As is clear and consistent reporting to regulators, investors, and communities.

Additional Resources

Implementing Water Stewardship

When Less is More: A New Self-Assessment Tool Supports Water-Efficient Mining
Moving in a New Direction: Water Conservation / Water Demand Management in the South African Mining Industry