Who we are
Water
Water is a resource with social, environmental and economic value at both the local and global level. Access to water resources is a key business risk that we manage using leading sustainable practices. Our water requirements, particularly for freshwater, compete with the needs of others and the environment, especially in arid and semi arid regions. Our operations also have the potential to affect the quality of water discharged into the environment.
We have a long term approach to water management that aims to improve our performance, recognise the significance of water and work with others to contribute to sustainable water management. Our strategy provides a framework for all our water activities in the Group. For example, during 2007 we engaged with external operations, such as WWF Australia, to build knowledge about the value of water. We continue to focus on ways to minimise the amount of water we remove from the environment, to re-use it whenever we can, and to return it to a state as similar to its original purity as possible when we discharge it.
Alcan freshwater input decreased by eight per cent compared to 2006. This was the result of improved water management at Alcan's Quebec hydroelectric generating facilities after installing control valves to automatically restrict water use during maintenance and shut down.
Compared with 2006, freshwater withdrawal increased by 4.8 per cent to 411 billion litres in 2007. When compared to 2003, we have reduced the amount of freshwater withdrawn per tonne of product, by 4.1 per cent. However, we are not on track to achieve our five year target of a ten per cent reduction in freshwater withdrawn, per tonne of product, by 2008. This is due to:
- the seven weeks of Industrial action at the Iron Ore Company of Canada causing freshwater to be withdrawn to maintain processes while production levels were low;
- new borefields commissioned in the Pilbara to access ore as part of expansion activities; and
- fewer cyclones and hence drier conditions required operations in the Pilbara to withdraw additional water for dust control where poor quality water could not be substituted.
The UN Millennium Development Goal on water is to reduce by half the number of people who do not have sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. Increasingly we work in developing countries where clean freshwater is a rare commodity, and this is an issue of growing importance for us. For example in Madagascar we are working with the local community and the World Bank to help people get access to clean drinking water. In Cameroon, Alcan contributed to the installation of water wells for villages surrounding its Alucam aluminium smelter near Edea.
