GRI 303: Water and Effluents 2018

EFFECTIVE DATE: 1 JANUARY 2021

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Introduction

GRI 303: Water and Effluents 2018 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their water-related impacts, and how they manage these impacts. The Standard is structured as follows:

• Section 1 contains two disclosures, which provide information about how the organization manages its water-related impacts.
• Section 2 contains three disclosures, which provide information about the organization’s water-related impacts.
• The Glossary contains defined terms with a specific meaning when used in the GRI Standards. The terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to the definitions.
• The Bibliography lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments and additional references used in developing this Standard.

Background on the topic

This Standard addresses the topic of water and effluents.

Access to fresh water is essential for human life and wellbeing, and is recognized by the United Nations (UN) as a human right. The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the UN as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, include key targets related to sustainable water management under Goal 6: ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. These targets aim, for example, to achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water, improve water quality, and address water scarcity.

The amount of water withdrawn and consumed by an organization and the quality of its discharges can impact the functioning of the ecosystem in numerous ways. Direct impacts on a catchment can have wider impacts on the quality of life in an area, including social and economic consequences for local communities and indigenous peoples.

Since water is a shared resource, and water-related impacts are localized, organizations are increasingly being encouraged to:

• prioritize action in areas with water stress;
• understand and respond to local contexts, including local social and environmental impacts;
• aim to benefit and respect the needs and priorities of all water users in an area;
• align their approaches and collective actions with other water users and with effective public policy.

Through a comprehensive understanding of its water use, an organization can assess the impacts it has on water resources that benefit the ecosystem, other water users, and the organization itself. An organization, particularly a water-intensive one, can use this information for effective water management.

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1. Topic management disclosures

An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report how it manages each of its material topics.

An organization that has determined water and effluents to be a material topic is required to report how it manages the topic using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 (see clause 1.1 in this section). The organization is also required to report any disclosures from this section (Disclosure 303-1 through Disclosure 303-2) that are relevant to its water-related impacts.

This section is therefore designed to supplement – and not replace – Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3.

REQUIREMENTS

• 1.1 The reporting organization shall report how it manages water and effluents using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.

GUIDANCE

Background
The disclosures in this section request essential information to help understand how an organization manages water-related impacts. The reporting organization can report any additional information about its water stewardship efforts and practices.

An effective approach to managing water and effluents accounts for the local context of water use, and acknowledges the importance of stewarding water as a shared resource. An organization can reduce its water withdrawal, consumption, discharge, and associated impacts through efficiency measures, such as water recycling and reuse, and process redesign, as well as through collective actions that extend beyond its operations within the catchment. It can improve water quality through better treatment of water discharge.

Disclosure 303-1 Interactions with water as a shared resource

REQUIREMENTS

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

• a. A description of how the organization interacts with water, including how and where water is withdrawn, consumed, and discharged, and the water-related impacts the organization has caused or contributed to, or that are directly linked to its operations, products, or services by its business relationships (e.g., impacts caused by runoff).
• b. A description of the approach used to identify water-related impacts, including the scope of assessments, their timeframe, and any tools or methodologies used.
• c. A description of how water-related impacts are addressed, including how the organization works with stakeholders to steward water as a shared resource, and how it engages with suppliers or customers with significant water-related impacts.
• d. An explanation of the process for setting any water-related goals and targets that are part of the organization’s approach to managing water and effluents, and how they relate to public policy and the local context of each area with water stress.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• 1.2 The reporting organization should report the following additional information:
  • 1.2.1 An overview of water use across the organization’s value chain;
  • 1.2.2 A list of specific catchments where the organization causes significant water-related impacts.

GUIDANCE

Guidance for Disclosure 303-1
Through its value chain, an organization can affect both the quality as well as the availability of water. If the reporting organization has identified significant water-related impacts in the value chain, which includes activities carried out by the organization, and by entities upstream and downstream from the organization, it is required to report information about these impacts. See Guidance to 3-3-b in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 for more information about reporting an organization’s involvement with negative impacts.

The description of how the organization interacts with water can include information on specific catchments where water is withdrawn, consumed, and discharged, and information on what the water is used for in activities carried out by the organization and by entities upstream and downstream from the organization (e.g., for cooling, storage, incorporating in products, growing crops).

In the context of this Standard, suppliers with significant water-related impacts may include suppliers of water-intensive commodities or services, suppliers located in areas with water stress, and/or suppliers with significant impacts on the local water environment and the related local communities.

If applicable, the organization can describe its environmental impacts caused by runoff, and how they are addressed. For example, runoff can carry high-nutrient and pollution loads due to the organization’s activities, leading to eutrophication and other negative impacts on local waterbodies.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-1-b
When assessing impacts, it is important that the organization consider its future impacts on water quality and availability, as these factors can change over time.

Tools and methodologies for identifying impacts can include life cycle assessments, environmental impact assessments, water footprint assessments, scenario analysis, and stakeholder engagement. If information is estimated or modeled, rather than sourced from direct measurements, the organization can explain its estimation or modeling methods.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-1-c
Working with stakeholders is critical for an organization to steward water as a shared resource and account for the needs of other water users of the catchment. An organization’s stakeholders can include:

• suppliers with significant water-related impacts;
• users of its products and services;
• local communities and action groups;
• employees and other workers;
• other water users in its sector or industry;
• governments, regulators, and civil society organizations;
• global initiatives, trade associations, and partnerships.

The organization can describe how it participates in discussions with stakeholders, the frequency of this engagement, and its role in these discussions. Outcomes of working with stakeholders can include, for example, collective target-setting for water use, increased investment in infrastructure, policy advocacy, and capacity building and awareness raising.

When reporting on its engagement with suppliers, the organization can describe:

• how the organization engages with its suppliers to help them improve their water management practices;
• the number of suppliers engaged;
• the outcomes of this engagement;
• the amount of procurement that the proportion of engaged suppliers represents;
• why information is not requested from suppliers with significant water-related impacts;
• future plans and goals for working with suppliers to reduce water-related impacts.

Water impacts related to products and services might be addressed by, for example, improving product design, providing information and advice on the responsible use of products and services, and holding regular consultations with users.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-1-d
Meaningful targets for managing water-related impacts:

• account for the local context where water is withdrawn and discharged;
• are scientifically informed by sustainable thresholds and the social context of a given catchment;
• align with public sector efforts, such as the water- related targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 6, or targets set by national and local government institutions;
• are informed by the advocacy of other stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, trade associations, and action groups.

See references [2] and [4] in the Bibliography.

The organization can report its progress toward the goals and targets using 3-3-e-iii in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.

Guidance for clause 1.2.1
The organization can present the overview of water use across its value chain as a breakdown, in graphic or written form, showing, for example, parts of the value chain where water consumption is significant and the commodities to which it is related, or the percentage of commodity sourcing that comes from catchments located in areas with water stress. The organization is encouraged to include information about upstream as well as downstream water use (e.g., use of water for consumer products, such as soaps, shampoos, and cleaning solutions).

Guidance for clause 1.2.2
To identify catchments where it causes water-related impacts, the organization can use global catchment data sets. These include the CEO Water Mandate 'Interactive Database of the World's River Basins'1 , and the WWF 'HydroSHEDS'2 .

Disclosure 303-2 Management of water discharge-related impacts

REQUIREMENTS

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

• a. A description of any minimum standards set for the quality of effluent discharge, and how these minimum standards were determined, including:
  • i. how standards for facilities operating in locations with no local discharge requirements were determined;
  • ii. any internally developed water quality standards or guidelines;
  • iii. any sector-specific standards considered;
  • iv. whether the profile of the receiving waterbody was considered.

GUIDANCE

Guidance for Disclosure 303-2
Minimum standards are those that go beyond regulatory requirements in controlling the quality of effluent discharge.

Water quality refers to the physical, chemical, biological, and taste-related characteristics of water. It is a measure of water suitability for a given purpose or function, including its use as a human right. Water quality standards help uphold water quality in order to protect ecosystems, wildlife, and human health and welfare, and can be based on water properties, such as temperature or pH value.

The specific choice of water quality standards and parameters can vary depending on an organization’s procucts, services, and facility locations, and can depend on national and/or regional regulations, as well as the profile of the receiving waterbody.

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2. Topic disclosures

Disclosure 303-3 Water withdrawal

REQUIREMENTS

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

• a. Total water withdrawal from all areas in megaliters, and a breakdown of this total by the following sources, if applicable:
  • i. Surface water;
  • ii. Groundwater;
  • iii. Seawater;
  • iv. Produced water;
  • v. Third-party water.
• b. Total water withdrawal from all areas with water stress in megaliters, and a breakdown of this total by the following sources, if applicable:
  • i. Surface water;
  • ii. Groundwater;
  • iii. Seawater;
  • iv. Produced water;
  • v. Third-party water, and a breakdown of this total by the withdrawal sources listed in i-iv.
• c. A breakdown of total water withdrawal from each of the sources listed in Disclosures 303-3-a and 303-3-b in megaliters by the following categories:
  • i. Freshwater (≤1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids);
  • ii. Other water (>1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids).
• d. Any contextual information necessary to understand how the data have been compiled, such as any standards, methodologies, and assumptions used.

Compilation requirements

• 2.1 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 303-3, the reporting organization shall use publicly available and credible tools and methodologies for assessing water stress in an area.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• 2.2 The reporting organization should report the following additional information:
  • 2.2.1 A breakdown of total water withdrawal in megaliters by withdrawal source categories listed in Disclosure 303-3, at each facility in areas with water stress;
  • 2.2.2 Total water withdrawal in megaliters by suppliers with significant water-related impacts in areas with water stress.

GUIDANCE

Background
The volume of water withdrawal from areas with water stress can indicate an organization’s impacts in sensitive locations.

To learn more about locations where water-related impacts might be significant, and where actions to address them are most needed, the reporting organization can also report the information requested in Disclosure 303-3 for each facility in areas with water stress. This can give stakeholders more confidence in the organization’s water stewardship efforts and practices.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-3
For an example of how to present information on requirements in Disclosure 303-3, see Table 1.

Surface water includes collected or harvested rainwater. Third-party water includes water supplied by municipal water networks or other organizations.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-3-b
Water stress refers to the ability, or lack thereof, to meet the human and ecological demand for water. Water stress can refer to the availability, quality, or accessibility of water.

Publicly available and credible tools for assessing areas with water stress include the World Resources Institute ‘Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas,' and the WWF 'Water Risk Filter'.

Based on these tools, water stress in an area may be assessed using either of the following indicators and their thresholds:

• The ratio of total annual water withdrawal to total available annual renewable water supply (i.e., baseline water stress) is high (40-80%) or extremely high (>80%)3 ;
• The ratio of water consumption-to-availability (i.e., water depletion) is moderate (dry-year depletion, where for at least 10% of the time, the monthly depletion ratio is >75%), high (seasonal depletion, where for one month of the year on average, the depletion ratio is >75%), or very high (ongoing depletion, where the depletion ratio on average is >75%)4 .

The organization may use these indicators even though they account only for quantity and not the quality or accessibility of water as per the inclusive approach to the definition of water stress.

The organization can complement the results from these tools with their own assessments, to provide more granular local-level data. Water stress in an area may be measured at catchment level at a minimum.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-3-b-v
If water is supplied by a third party, the organization is required to request information about its withdrawal sources, listed in Disclosures 303-3-b-i to 303-3-b-iv, from the third-party water supplier. The organization can report any additional information about third-party water, such as who the third-party water suppliers are and the volume of water supplied by them.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-3-c
The organization is required to provide a breakdown of the water withdrawn from each of the sources listed in Disclosures 303-3-a and 303-3-b (surface water, groundwater, seawater, produced water, third-party water) by the categories freshwater and other water. The organization is only required to provide this breakdown for the sources it has withdrawn water from. If all water withdrawn from a source belongs only to one category (i.e., to freshwater or to other water), the organization can report the volume for the remaining category as zero. For example, if all the withdrawn seawater belongs to the other water category, the organization can report the volume of freshwater under this source as zero.

Other water constitutes any water that has a concentration of total dissolved solids higher than 1,000 mg/L. Other water is therefore all water that does not fall into the freshwater category.

The organization is, at a minimum, required to report a figure for other water withdrawal for each of the sources listed in Disclosures 303-3-a and 303-3-b.

The organization can additionally report any further breakdowns for other water withdrawal based on its water management and reporting practices, as long as it explains the approach used to define water quality using Disclosure 303-3-d. The organization can report additional information on how water quality has been determined, including consideration of the potential value of water to its users, as well as any absolute physical and/or chemical criteria used.

Guidance for clause 2.2.1
To compile this information, the organization can use the following approach: (a) determine which facilities are located in areas with water stress, (b) for each of these facilities, report a breakdown of the total water withdrawal by surface water, groundwater, seawater, produced water, and third-party water. For an example of how to present this information, see Table 2.

Guidance for clause 2.2.2
To compile this information, the organization can use the following approach: (a) determine which suppliers are located in areas with water stress, (b) determine which of these suppliers cause significant water-related impacts, (c) add up the total water withdrawal of each of these suppliers, (d) report the sum. For an example of how to present this information, see Table 3.

Disclosure 303-4 Water discharge

REQUIREMENTS

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

• a. Total water discharge to all areas in megaliters, and a breakdown of this total by the following types of destination, if applicable:
  • i. Surface water;
  • ii. Groundwater;
  • iii. Seawater;
  • iv. Third-party water, and the volume of this total sent for use to other organizations, if applicable.
• b. A breakdown of total water discharge to all areas in megaliters by the following categories:
  • i. Freshwater (≤1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids);
  • ii. Other water (>1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids).
• c. Total water discharge to all areas with water stress in megaliters, and a breakdown of this total by the following categories:
  • i. Freshwater (≤1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids);
  • ii. Other water (>1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids).
• d. Priority substances of concern for which discharges are treated, including:
  • i. how priority substances of concern were defined, and any international standard, authoritative list, or criteria used;
  • ii. the approach for setting discharge limits for priority substances of concern;
  • iii. number of incidents of non-compliance with discharge limits.
• e. Any contextual information necessary to understand how the data have been compiled, such as any standards, methodologies, and assumptions used.

Compilation requirements

• 2.3 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 303-4, the reporting organization shall use publicly available and credible tools and methodologies for assessing water stress in an area.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• 2.4 The reporting organization should report the following additional information:
  • 2.4.1 The number of occasions on which discharge limits were exceeded;
  • 2.4.2 A breakdown of total water discharge to all areas in megaliters by level of treatment, and how the treatment levels were determined;
  • 2.4.3 Percentage of suppliers with significant water-related impacts from water discharge that have set minimum standards for the quality of their effluent discharge.

GUIDANCE

Background
Quantifying the volume of water discharge can help an organization understand its negative impacts on the receiving waterbody.

The relationship between water discharge and negative impacts is not linear. An increase in the total volume of water discharge does not necessarily correspond to greater negative impacts, since these impacts depend on the quality of the water discharge and the sensitivity of the receiving waterbody. An organization with a high volume of water discharge, but also a high level of treatment and strict quality standards, can have positive impacts on the receiving waterbody.

To learn more about locations where water-related impacts might be significant, and where actions to address them are most needed, the reporting organization can also report the information requested in Disclosure 303-4 for each facility in areas with water stress.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-4
For an example of how to present information on requirements in Disclosure 303-4, see Table 1.

See Guidance for Disclosure 303-3-b for how to assess areas with water stress.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-4-a-iv
An example of third-party water discharge is when an organization sends water and effluents to other organizations for use. In these instances, the organization is required to report the volume of this water discharge separately.

Guidance for Disclosures 303-4-b and 303-4-c
The organization is required to provide a breakdown of the water discharged to all areas and to all areas with water stress by the categories freshwater and other water. Other water constitutes any water that has a concentration of total dissolved solids higher than 1,000 mg/L. Other water is therefore all water that does not fall into the freshwater category.

The organization is, at a minimum, required to report a figure for other water discharged. The organization can additionally report any further breakdowns for other water discharge based on its water management and reporting practices, as long as it explains the approach used to define water quality using Disclosure 303-4-e. The organization can report additional information on how water quality has been determined, including consideration of the potential value of water to its users, as well as any absolute physical and/or chemical criteria used.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-4-d
In the context of this Standard, substances of concern are those that cause irreversible damage to the waterbody, ecosystem, or human health.

Discharge limits for substances of concern can be based on regulation and/or other factors determined by an organization. In countries where no regulations for discharge limits are available, the organization can develop its own discharge limits. ‘Discharge consent’ is the permission granted to an organization, allowing it to discharge a set amount of a substance. The organization can report any unauthorized discharges that exceed these limits using Disclosure 303-4-d. The organization can also describe any plans to reduce unauthorized discharges in the future.

Guidance for clause 2.4.2
Reporting water discharge by level of treatment can provide insight into the effort an organization is making to improve the quality of its water discharge. When reporting how the treatment levels were determined, the organization is expected to include the reasons why a certain level of treatment was set.

The level of treatment can be reported for any water or effluents at the point of discharge, whether treated by the organization onsite or sent to a third party for treatment.

Water treatment involves physical, chemical or biological processes that improve water quality by removing solids, pollutants, and organic matter from water and effluents. Minimum requirements for treatment might be specified in national, state, or local legislation; however, the organization is expected to consider its overall water discharge impacts and the needs of other water users in setting treatment levels.

The organization can break down its water discharge by the following treatment levels:

• Primary treatment, which aims to remove solid substances that settle or float on the water surface;
• Secondary treatment, which aims to remove substances and materials that have remained in the water, or are dissolved or suspended in it;
• Tertiary treatment, which aims to upgrade water to a higher level of quality before it is discharged. It includes processes that remove, for example, heavy metals, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

An organization might withdraw and discharge water of good quality that does not require treatment. If so, the organization can explain this in its reported information.

Guidance for clause 2.4.3
Minimum standards are those that go beyond regulatory requirements in controlling the quality of effluent discharge. For more information on water quality standards, see Disclosure 303-2 in the Topic management disclosures section.

To compile this information, the organization can use the following approach: (a) determine the number of suppliers with significant water-related impacts from water discharge, (b) determine how many of these suppliers have set minimum standards for the quality of their effluent discharge, (c) calculate the percentage using the following formula:

For an example of how to present this information, see Table 3.

Disclosure 303-5 Water consumption

REQUIREMENTS

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

• a. Total water consumption from all areas in megaliters.
• b. Total water consumption from all areas with water stress in megaliters.
• c. Change in water storage in megaliters, if water storage has been identified as having a significant water-related impact.
• d. Any contextual information necessary to understand how the data have been compiled, such as any standards, methodologies, and assumptions used, including whether the information is calculated, estimated, modeled, or sourced from direct measurements, and the approach taken for this, such as the use of any sector-specific factors.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• 2.5 The reporting organization should report the following additional information:
  • 2.5.1 Total water consumption in megaliters at each facility in areas with water stress;
  • 2.5.2 Total water consumption in megaliters by suppliers with significant water-related impacts in areas with water stress.

GUIDANCE

Background
Water consumption measures water used by an organization such that it is no longer available for use by the ecosystem or local community in the reporting period. Reporting the volume of water consumption can help the organization understand the overall scale of its impact due to water withdrawal on downstream water availability.

Guidance for Disclosure 303-5
For an example how to present information on requirements in Disclosure 303-5, see Table 1.

See Guidance for Disclosure 303-3-b for how to assess areas with water stress.

If the reporting organization cannot directly measure water consumption, it may calculate this using the following formula:

Guidance for Disclosure 303-5-c
If the water in storage has been identified as having a significant water-related impact, the organization is required to report change in water storage. The organization may calculate change in water storage using the following formula:

Guidance for clause 2.5.1
To compile this information, the organization can use the following approach: (a) determine which facilities are located in areas with water stress, (b) for each of these facilities, report the total water consumption. For an example of how to present this information, see Table 2.

Guidance for clause 2.5.2
To compile this information, the organization can use the following approach: (a) determine which suppliers are located in areas with water stress, (b) determine which of these suppliers cause significant water-related impacts, (c) add up the total water consumption of each of these suppliers, (d) report the sum. For an example of how to present this information, see Table 3.

Table 1. Example templates for presenting information for Disclosures 303-3, 303-4, and 303-5

Table 1 offers examples of how to present information for Disclosures 303-3, 303-4, and 303-5. The reporting organization can amend the table according to its practices, for example by reporting additional information.

Table 2. Example template for presenting facility-level information

Table 2 offers an example of how to present information on facilities located in areas with water stress as per the recommendations specified in Disclosures 303-3 (clause 2.2.1) and 303-5 (clause 2.5.1). The reporting organization can amend the table according to its practices, for example by reporting water discharge information.

Table 3. Example template for presenting supply chain information

Table 3 offers an example of how to present information on the organization’s suppliers as per the recommendations specified in Disclosures 303-3 (clause 2.2.2), 303-4 (clause 2.4.3), and 303-5 (clause 2.5.2). The reporting organization can amend the table according to its practices, for example by reporting the location of suppliers.

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Bibliography

This section lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments and additional references used in developing this Standard.

Authoritative instruments:

1. United Nations (UN) Resolution A/RES/64/292, ‘The human right to water and sanitation’, 2010.
2. United Nations (UN), ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, 2015.

Additional references:

3. Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), AWS International Water Stewardship Standard, Version 1.0, 2014.
4. CDP, The CEO Water Mandate, The Nature Conservancy, Pacific Institute, World Resources Institute (WRI), and WWF International, Exploring the Case for Corporate Context-based Water Targets, 2017.
5. Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), Water Accounting Framework for the Minerals Industry, User Guide, v1.3, 2014.
6. The CEO Water Mandate, Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines, Toward a Common Approach to Reporting Water Issues, 2014.
7. World Resources Institute, Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, www.wri.org/our-work/project/aqueduct/, accessed on 1 June 2018.
8. WWF, Water Risk Filter, waterriskfilter.panda.org, accessed on 1 June 2018.