The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), a global leader in sustainable water management and good water governance, has commended the Ingham’s Group Limited (ASX: ING), Australia and New Zealand’s leading integrated poultry producer, for its ongoing commitment to water leadership.

Ingham’s Te Aroha primary processing plant has become the second Ingham’s site and the first in New Zealand to be certified against the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard and only the sixth site in the world to be certified. Ingham’s Somerville plant in Australia was the first in the world to achieve Gold level AWS certification in 2015.

This achievement consolidates Ingham’s position as global leader in corporate water stewardship.  Only one other corporation (Nestle) has achieved certification for two sites.  Both are looking to continue to roll-out implementation of AWS Water Stewardship at other operating sites.

At a time of growing global concern over water stress, AWS Water Stewardship an important tool for companies to understand and manage their water risk exposure, address catchment challenges and collaborate with communities, governments and other businesses to address water scarcity, pollution, ecosystem services and water governance.

AWS certification aims to achieve four outcomes: sustainable water balance (quantity), good water quality, healthy water-related sites of high importance (wetlands, ecosystems and cultural sites) and good water governance.  The AWS Standard prescribes a series of actions that water using sites need to take to achieve good water stewardship.

Good water stewardship is good business management.  It shows that a business understands and is addressing its water risks, that it is managing its natural capital, is engaged with stakeholders on shared catchment challenges and that its processes for managing water have been independently verified for compliance with the AWS Standard.

AWS is a multi-stakeholder initiative to address the world’s water crisis by recognising and rewarding industrial, agricultural, commercial and institutional water users that develop and put in place water stewardship plans and strategies for their operating sites and catchments.  It encourages collaborative approaches.

Ingham’s New Zealand Managing Director Adrian Revell said: “Our industry is a large consumer of water which is used extensively throughout the production process from grain growing to farming and processing. We have been working for more than 10 years on best practice management of our water life cycle including our impact on the local catchment area and how our wastewater is treated.”

Ingham’s utilised the Alliance for Water Stewardship’s stringent standards as the framework to engage and work with the wider community to look after the local water catchment area.

Michael Spencer, Chair of the Alliance for Water Stewardship, congratulated Ingham’s on achieving AWS Water Stewardship for the second major production centre in their Australian and New Zealand business.  “Ingham’s has been a pioneer in its work on water stewardship and deserves recognition for the leadership it has shown.”  

Spencer continued, “We hope Ingham’s leadership will encourage others to take up good water stewardship and collaborate to address water challenges facing New Zealand, Australia and the broader Asia Pacific Region.  We live in the most stressed water region in the world and everyone has a part to play in addressing that challenge”.

This announcement was made simultaneously in New Zealand, Australia and at Stockholm International Water Week. 

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