World Water Day 2014 on 21 - 22 March!

Water and Energy for a more efficient and sustainable management of our water resources is the theme for the 2014 World Water Day. On March 21 and 22 the United Nations Organisation – working closely with its Member States and other relevant stakeholders – will highlight the issues around the water-energy nexus: a topic of major interest to SusChem, the chemical and other process industries. Water and energy are closely interlinked and interdependent.

Energy generation and transmission requires utilisation of water resources, particularly for hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal energy sources. And innovation in water usage is essential for us to achieve a more efficient use of water and energy: saving energy is saving water and saving water is saving energy. Choices concerning the supply, distribution, price, and use of water and energy impact one another. The water- energy nexus is one of the major societal challenges facing Europe and the World.

The chemical industry as one of the biggest water consumers can lead the development of integrated water strategies through technologies that reduce water consumption, reduce use of fresh water resources (through cascade use of urban, industrial and rural areas), and optimise waste water management.

The industry is also one of the biggest providers of water treatment materials and technologies. Our experience will allow us to develop new approaches to improve other sectors’ water management and public sector water requirements.

WWD 2014
World Water Day 2014 aims to facilitate the development of policies and cross-cutting frameworks that bridge ministries and sectors, leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy.

The main celebrations of World Water Day will be organised by United Nations University (UNU) and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on behalf of UN-Water on 20 and 21 March and will take place at the UNU Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

Boosting innovation in water management will contribute to overcoming these challenges by achieving sustainable use and treatment of water and developing future water policy. The chemical industry participates in projects for the development of integrated water strategies through technologies that reduce water consumption and the related energy, reduce use of fresh water resources and optimise waste water management. For example, the FP7 project E4Water that is building on state-of-the-art and new fundamental R&D concepts with the aim of achieving an expected reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% direct economic benefits at its case study sites throughout the European chemical industry.

Water EIP Newsletter
SusChem and Cefic are heavily involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP Water) and the UN World Water Day is one of many articles in the latest EIP Water Newsletter.

Water and Energy is one of EIP Water’s priority areas and in the newsletter you can get updates on the activities the  EIP Water Action Groups that are working in this field: Water4Energy Framework , Renewable Energy Desalination and Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor. You can subscribe to the newsletter via the EIP water website.