Water used at our operations
Operations used 923 gigalitres (GL) of water in 2005 for mining, processing and related activities. This is a similar amount to 2004.
Maximising the recycling of water within an operation is an effective way of reducing water inputs and outputs, thereby reducing potential impacts. In 2005, Rio Tinto recycled 22 per cent (199 GL) of the total water it used.
In the past, the amount of water used per tonne of product was used as an efficiency measure. However, in 2004 Rio Tinto introduced a set of environmental targets aimed at driving performance improvements. Because there is generally a higher community and environmental demand for freshwater, freshwater withdrawn per tonne of product was selected as the most appropriate indicator for targets against which to measure community and environmental effects and hence replaces water used as the efficiency measure.
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