Sustainability of Industrial Facilities through Water Indicators

One of the key parameters affecting the sustainability performance of industrial facilities is their ability to efficiently manage water resources and reduce water consumption. The aim of the specific study is to identify key indicators utilized for the evaluation of sustainable water consumption and management of industrial facilities that are included in sustainability assessment methods. For the specific purpose, a 3-step methodology was developed including a) the development of an indicator pool, b) the separation of indicators and c) evaluation and selection of key indicators. In total, twelve key indicators were identified. The specific indicators were further assessed based on five predefined criteria such as their efficiency in terms of time and cost required for their estimation, their ability to help decision making, their ability to cover long-term and wide spatial boundaries and others. A five-point grading system was applied to rank the indicators in order to help industries select the most appropriate ones according to their needs. Results indicated that there is still a significant potential of improvement in terms of how industries assess water related sustainability aspects. What seems to be the most important issue is the development of commonly accepted sustainability thresholds or goals per indicator, so that industries will be able to assess their distance from a truly sustainable performance. To serve this purpose, a normalization procedure including specific reference points for six key indicators is proposed.