Water Use

In 2000, Ford launched a water-reduction initiative and set a target of 3 percent year-over-year reductions in water use. From 2000 to 2008, Ford's global manufacturing operations reduced water consumption by more than 56 percent, or approximately 9.5 billion gallons. We reduced global water use approximately 24 percent from 2007 to 2008 alone.

When the initiative began, many facilities had little ability to track their water usage. Ford engineers thus developed a patented Water Estimation Tool (WET), a software program that helps facilities to predict their water usage. They then paired WET with WILD (Water Ideas to Lessen Demand), a list of practical ideas for reducing water use depending on where and when use is the greatest. Our facilities made good progress for several years, meeting or exceeding the 3 percent year-over-year water reduction goal that applied to all facilities. To encourage continued progress, Ford environmental engineers are developing "single point lessons" that document practices demonstrated to save water. These lessons are cascaded for mandatory implementation in all facilities and are included in facility business plans. Single point lessons implemented thus far include leak identification, cooling tower optimization and vehicle water testing.

Water use at each facility is also tracked in the Global Emissions Manager database, our global emissions management and tracking system. Water use is included in GEM in a monthly tracking scorecard reviewed by senior management.

In 2008, we piloted the use of a new water management tool developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. This tool can be used to track water use, develop water management metrics and reporting systems, and assess water-related risks for individual facilities. A team of graduate students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University worked with Ford to analyze our global water use and water risks using this tool. Using water consumption data from our global manufacturing facilities, this project allowed Ford to evaluate water risks to its operations and prioritize actions to reduce those risks. Water risks include the impact of changing water supplies on facilities in drought-prone areas, the number of employees who live in areas with limited access to clean water and the number of suppliers in water-scarce areas.

Ford facilities have used these tools and innovative engineering to cut water use. For example, we implemented a new environmentally improved, anti-corrosion, pre- treatment technology at our Twin Cities and St. Thomas assembly plants. This technology uses a zirconium oxide vehicle bath instead of zinc phosphate treatment, which eliminates heavy metals, including zinc, nickel and manganese. It also has the potential to decrease the use of water and the production of hazardous waste. For more information on the waste and energy benefits of this technology, please see the Operational Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Waste Management sections. We are currently studying opportunities to implement this technology globally.

In 2008, we began implementing a new parts washing system – described further in a case study – that completely eliminates a former oily wastewater stream and reduces total wastewater by 95 percent.