World Water Day occurs once a year, but global efforts to conserve, protect, and transform water access can’t take a day off because in 2019, billions of people still live without safe water.
On Friday, March 22, we observe World Water Day. On this day, we reflect on the issue of water availability, recognize the inequities of water access around the world, and refresh our efforts to save water and make it available to all communities. This year’s theme -- ‘Leaving no one behind’ -- amplifies the importance of this final point: that every person on this planet must benefit. The UN Sustainable Development water goal aims to ensure safe water for all by 2030. And as a global supplier of water saving technologies, water conservation services, and water-based products that often require water during use, Diversey strives to provide universal solutions that can benefit everyone.
Everyone is aware of droughts, water rationing, draining groundwater supplies, and poor access to clean water in some parts of the world. However, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the social and health impacts of unreliable access to safe water. Unsafe water and poor sanitation cause over 700 child deaths every day. These are preventable deaths that shine a bright light on the global problem of access to clean water. Women and children suffer insidious impacts when water is not available in the home. In 80% of these situations, women or children are responsible for leaving the home to collect water, taking away from time parenting and denying educational opportunities. For more facts that stress the need to act, see the World Water Day poster.
The need for action on water security has led Diversey to make water stewardship a central component of our new sustainability goals and our “Facilitators for Life” program, which we launched last year. Our targets include reducing water use in our operations, quantifying water savings for our customers, and identifying water savings opportunities in our innovations. All of these are important, but the biggest benefit that Diversey can provide comes from our water savings products and solutions.
Throughout the course of Diversey’s nearly 95 years of providing cleaning and hygiene technologies, we have demonstrated that conserving water is good for business. Diversey’s customers in hospitality, healthcare, food service, building services, retail, and food & beverage rely on cleaning product technologies, equipment innovations, and services that help save billions of gallons of water.
Chemical technologies can reduce water consumption by making cleaning more efficient and reducing rinse water. For instance, our Clax Advanced low-temperature detergent has been shown to reduce water consumption by up to 35% in hotels. Water can be essentially eliminated in everything from urinals to conveyor belt systems with the right chemical innovations. Diversey has also integrated water savings technologies in equipment like TASKI’s IntelliFlow, which reduces water up to 76% in floor cleaning when compared to traditional autoscrubbers. Even after using the best chemistry and efficient equipment, Diversey can still find customers water savings through Knowledge-Based Services, where programs like AquaCheck save an additional 30%.
World Water Day is a call for organizations to find solutions, collaborate, and solve this pervasive problem. Today, Diversey reaffirms our commitment to responsible use, customer partnerships, and water saving innovations.
Learn more about Diversey’s commitments to social and environmental stewardship at https://www.diversey.com/sustainability
Daniel A. Daggett, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Sustainability & CSR
Diversey, Inc