Celebrating Water Action and Collaboration: World Water Day 2023

Every March 22, we celebrate World Water Day to unite toward solving the global water and sanitation crisis. This year’s theme is “Accelerating Change,” centered on the ancient story of a hummingbird taking small actions to put out a fire—and proving that every drop counts. And this year, the day coincides with the start of the UN 2023 Water Conference, the UN’s first major water-related gathering in nearly 50 years.

For the rest of this week, national and local governments, NGOs, and the water sector (including some of our DuPont Water Solutions leadership team) are convening to accelerate progress on SDG 6—safe water and sanitation for all. Through voluntary commitments and internationally-agreed water-related goals and targets, attendees will contribute to the Water Action Agenda, designed to deliver rapid, transformative change in the remainder of this decade.

To celebrate World Water Day and the once-in-a-lifetime gathering at the UN Water Conference, I wanted to share some of the recent ACTIONS that we are taking to be the change we want to see in the world—and drive toward a more water-optimized world.  

Collectively Investing in Water Access: On Thursday, DuPont announced that it is making an impact investment of $3M to increase access to safe water and sanitation. WaterEquity’s Global Access Fund IV, with $140M in investor commitments toward a goal of $150M, aims to reach 5 million people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The fund brings together collective treasury investments from corporate members of the Water Resilience Coalition—Starbucks, Ecolab, Gap Inc., Reckitt and DuPont—unlocking a $100 million commitment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).  

Providing Equitable Access to Data to Help ALL Cities Optimize Water: DuPont has continued to support Economist Impact with the City Water Index, a benchmarking tool that helps cities worldwide plan for more sustainable and resilient urban water systems. Together, we launched a self-assessment tool this week for city water stakeholders to compare to peers and uncover opportunities to optimize water resources, allowing all cities to equitably access this powerful data. In fact, the tool was officially recognized by the United Nations as contributing to the Water Action Agenda.

Innovating for Sustainability- Multibore™ PRO: Yesterday, we announced the commercial launch of the next generation of multi-capillary PES In-Out Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes—DuPont™ Multibore™ PRO. Customers can leverage Multibore™ PRO to reduce the number of modules needed in water purification systems as part of more sustainable multi-technology approaches to desalination, municipal drinking water or industrial water applications. 

Encouraging Corporate Water Stewardship: Announced today, DuPont is proud to join the Business Leaders' Open Call to Accelerate Action on Water, joining a growing list of more than 40 global corporations who are leveraging the power of the private sector to advance water solutions and SDG6. By signing the Open Call for Water Action, we commit to continue to build water resilience across our global operations and supply chains and to work collaboratively across sectors to accelerate positive water impact.

Celebrating our Customers—with a focus on Carlsberg: This week, we shared our latest customer success story where DesaliTec™ CCRO helped Carlsberg become perhaps the most water-efficient brewery in the world—reducing their water consumption by 58.8% and virtually eliminating wastewater from its brewing operations. Through this project, our customer met their 2030 Sustainability Goal seven years early, and we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of their team. 

Bringing a Multi-Tech Approach to One of the World’s Largest Water Reuse Plants: Earlier this month, PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, and its water infrastructure contractor, UES Holdings Pte. Ltd., announced the selection of DuPont to implement its MemPulse™ MBR and FilmTec™ RO technologies for the sustainable production of NEWater at the landmark Tuas Water Reclamation Plant.

Making Personal Commitments—both as water users and water innovators: DuPont employees are participating in the global campaign Be the change, which encourages people to take action in their lives to change how they use, consume and manage water. These promises from individuals and communities will contribute to the Water Action Agenda alongside larger commitments from governments, companies, organizations, institutions, and coalitions. 

I know that we are proud of our purpose—to solve for the world’s hardest water challenge. These actions we take, no matter how large or how small, will help solve this global water crisis.