FAQs

As water scarcity and sustainability challenges intensify, companies are increasingly looking for ways to minimize their impact and contribute positively to water resources. The Water Positive approach goes beyond water efficiency, focusing on restoring and replenishing water systems to ensure long-term resilience.

To help our clients and partners better understand this concept, we have compiled answers to the 17 most frequently asked questions about Water Positive. These answers provide clarity on its meaning, benefits, measurement, implementation, and alignment with global sustainability goals.

The 17 most frequently asked questions

1. What does it mean to be Water Positive?

Being Water Positive means that an organization generates a positive water balance, ensuring that its actions offset and exceed the amount of water it consumes. This is achieved through resource optimization, the restoration of water ecosystems, and the implementation of initiatives that improve water quality and availability in the basins where it operates.

2. Why is being Water Positive important?

Adopting a Water Positive approach is essential to addressing the growing global water crisis. It contributes to water security, protects ecosystems, enhances community resilience, and enables companies to comply with environmental regulations, reduce operational risks, and strengthen their corporate sustainability reputation.

3. What are the benefits of being Water Positive for a company?

• Enhances its social license to operate by generating a positive impact on the water basins where it operates.

• Ensures compliance with regulatory standards and international sustainability frameworks.

• Reduces exposure to operational and financial risks associated with water scarcity.

• Builds investor, customer, and stakeholder trust by demonstrating a genuine commitment to sustainable water management.

• Optimizes operational costs through water efficiency.

4. How can a company become Water Positive?

To achieve this, a company must implement water efficiency strategies, reduce consumption, reuse and recycle water, restore water ecosystems, and contribute to access to clean water and sanitation in local communities. Additionally, it must quantify and report its impact using methodologies such as VWBA 2.0, ensuring transparency and credibility in its actions.

5. What are the main challenges in becoming Water Positive?

• Accurately measuring water consumption and generated water benefits.

• Implementing innovative and scalable technologies.

• Integrating the Water Positive approach into the supply chain.

• Overcoming regulatory barriers and ensuring compliance.

• Guaranteeing the additionality and permanence of generated water benefits.

6. How is the impact of being Water Positive measured?

It is measured through the net water balance, which considers total water consumption and the benefits generated through conservation, restoration, and water regeneration projects. Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA 2.0) provides a methodological framework to quantify and report these impacts with technical rigor.

7. What role do stakeholders play in Water Positive?

Stakeholders—including local communities, government authorities, regulatory bodies, NGOs, and other companies—are essential to ensuring a sustainable and equitable impact. Their involvement ensures that Water Positive initiatives are effective, aligned with local needs, and create shared value.

8. What is WASH, and how does it relate to Water Positive?

WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) encompasses access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. It is a key component of the Water Positive strategy, as ensuring equitable access to these services is essential for public health and water security. Additionally, it aligns with the United Nations CEO Water Mandate, which promotes corporate action in sustainable water management.

9. How can a company prove that it is truly Water Positive?

• Publishing sustainability reports with verifiable metrics.

• Applying standardized methodologies such as VWBA 2.0.

• Obtaining certification under recognized water management standards.

• Conducting external audits to validate results.

• Transparently communicating its strategy and progress in specialized forums and with stakeholders.

10. What is the difference between Net Positive Water Impact and Water Positive?

Net Positive Water Impact focuses on replenishing more water than is consumed in a company’s direct operations. Water Positive, on the other hand, is a broader concept that incorporates water quality, ecosystem regeneration, and the water resilience of basins, throughout the whole value chain.

11. How does Water Positive relate to Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA)?

Water Positive relies on VWBA to measure, report, and validate its impact. VWBA is a methodological framework that enables companies to quantify the water benefits generated through their water-related projects and initiatives, ensuring that the impact is additional, measurable, and verifiable.

12. What types of projects help a company become Water Positive?

• Watershed restoration and aquifer recharge projects.

• Industrial water reuse and recycling initiatives.

• Development of green infrastructure to improve water management.

• Programs providing access to clean water and sanitation in vulnerable communities.

• Implementation of water efficiency technologies in industrial processes.

13. How can companies reduce their water footprint to move toward Water Positive?

• Optimizing processes to reduce water consumption.

• Implementing reuse and recycling technologies.

• Improving water management within the supply chain.

• Investing in nature-based solutions to enhance water quality and availability.

14. How does Water Positive align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Water Positive aligns with SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) but also contributes to other SDGs, such as SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), by improving water security and climate resilience.

15. How does climate change affect the Water Positive strategy?

Climate change exacerbates water scarcity and increases variability in water availability. Companies must adopt adaptive strategies, invest in resilient solutions, and collaborate with key stakeholders to mitigate these impacts and strengthen water security.

16. How can companies collaborate to become Water Positive?

Through strategic partnerships with other companies, governments, and civil society organizations. Collective action enables investment in large-scale water projects, improves water governance, and facilitates knowledge and best practice sharing.

17. Why is water reuse and recycling important in a Water Positive strategy?

Water reuse and recycling are essential to reducing dependence on freshwater, minimizing environmental impact, and improving water efficiency. These practices allow companies to optimize their consumption and contribute to the regeneration of water resources at the basin level.