Water, logged: Software now calculates water footprint

One of the developers in the environmental compliance management software space, Locus Technologies, has added the ability to track water footprint-related information.

Water accounting covers two different concerns: the quantity of water that your business uses and the quality of the water it discharges. The latter comes in the form of keeping tabs on groundwater and surface water contamination that might be caused by your operations (whether they are manufacturing facilities or a huge headquarters building). There is a related energy component, of course, because it takes electricity to clean up or purify wastewater.

Here's rationale from Neno Duplan, president and CEO of Locus, which delivers its environmental management applications as a service:

"Water management issues represent a potentially huge area of risk for business. Reducing one's water footprint should be part of the environmental strategy of a business, just like reducing one's carbon footprint or energy usage already is. ... Meeting emissions standards for compliance purposes is one thing, but looking at how effluents' management actually results in lower risk, reduced energy consumption, improved operational efficiency, and ultimately an improved bottom line is another thing."

If you've been overlooking water management in your green technology initiatives, you'll want to consider what Locus is doing as an indication of things to come.