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Many mills expect access to water will be threatened: Fisher International

Recognizing that water has become an increasingly important strategic issue in the pulp and paper industry, potentially affecting the ability of mills to operate at capacity, Fisher International has released a study titled “The 2012…

Recognizing that water has become an increasingly important strategic issue in the pulp and paper industry, potentially affecting the ability of mills to operate at capacity, Fisher International has released a study titled “The 2012 Global PPI Water Benchmark Report.”

The report is intended to help environmental managers understand how water issues are affecting pulp and paper mills around the world as they benchmark their own positions and evaluate their policies.

The study finds that many mills expect that their access to water will be threatened in the next five years. According to Fisher, in Africa, 50% of respondents anticipate a threat to water availability in the next five years. In Asia Pacific and Latin America the number drops to 38% and 34% respectively. North Americans have the lowest anticipation of a threat, at 10%.

A majority of mills worldwide, expect to make changes to their water usage goals in the next five years, particularly in developing countries, says the study.

Worldwide, the range of water usage per tonne of paper produced was found to be quite broad: from less than 0.95 cubic meters per tonne (250 gallons per short ton) of paper produced up to 265 cubic meters per tonne (70,000 gallons per short ton) of paper produced.

The report is free to mills that take part in Fisher International’s water survey. It is also available for purchase. To take the survey, obtain a copy of the report, or receive additional information, please email info@fisheri.com.

Fisher International supports the pulp and paper industry with business intelligence and management consulting.