The culture of water needs to change

The need for industry participation in addressing the world’s water crises has been well documented. (See,e.g., 2030 Water Resources Group, 2009; Asian Development Bank, 2016; High Level Panel on Water,2018; International Conference on Water and the Environment, 1992). What is less well documented ishow this is going to happen. By and large, not enough has been done to understand the obstacles towater-using industries addressing scarcity, water quality, ecosystem health and water equity issues, or theincentives that might encourage their participation. Isolated examples of collaboration between industry,water agencies, government, and other stakeholders can receive considerable attention but really onlyhighlight the extent to which these parties normally work independently of one another. Despite theurgent need for change, water professionals largely continue to employ the same approaches, despitedemand for water growing beyond supply in some regions and population growth, industrialization,urbanization, changing consumption patterns, and climate change creating new challenges.

In this chapter, I argue that change needs to start with the attitudes of water professionals, who mustencourage industry customers to participate in solving water problems through the development andcelebration of new forms of collaboration. In short, so long as water professionals accept responsibilityfor solving industry’s water problems, they will perpetuate the traditional agency relationship betweenutilities and customers, reinforcing industry’s attitude that water is ‘someone else’s responsibility.’ Tostart the change process, there is a need to look at the attitudes and culture of the water industry –including how water professionals are trained, recognized, and rewarded – to understand how these cultural issues have become an obstacle to collaborative problem-solving. Water professionals need to helpcompanies understand their part in responding to the overall water crisis and seek their participation inaddressing the underlying causes. When this happens, it can create a meaningful framework for collaboration between water agencies (suppliers and regulators) and industry (customers) that can deliver measurable outcomes.