Need for Sustainable Water Management in Food and Beverage Industry

It’s no secret that the food and beverage industry, along with agricultural production, ranks among the largest consumers of water worldwide. Food production accounts for 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions. [1] Since 1900, freshwater consumption has increased sixfold [2], primarily due to growing demand in agriculture, industry, and municipal services.

Why is this happening? The answer is simple. The world’s population is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the United Nations, the global population reached 8.2 billion in mid-2023, and it is expected to rise to 10.3 billion by 2080. [3] Despite the expansion of the food industry, there are still 800 million people who lack access to sufficient food [4] and clean drinking water. [5]

Food production worldwide is increasingly affected by climate change and extreme weather events, such as prolonged droughts and heavy rainfall. Excessive consumption, waste, and rising competition for limited resources force us to seek new approaches to reduce the pressure on traditional sources while contributing to greater sustainability in the food and beverage industry.

Technological innovations represent one way to achieve this goal. In 2016, research conducted by the renowned Fraunhofer Institute IVV in Dresden showed that the cleaning of the hygienic drainage channel developed by ACO significantly improves and reduces the time and effort required for cleaning. Tests demonstrated that the tested hygienic drainage channel could be effectively cleaned in 8 minutes without the need for mechanical cleaning steps, achieving 0% residual contamination. In contrast, the non-hygienic drainage channel required significantly more effort and could not be completely cleaned within the same timeframe. ACO HygieneFirst represents a breakthrough in food safety and cleaning standards in the food and beverage industry. It was also the first step towards sustainable water management, as water consumption is reduced with efficient cleaning.

Another potential avenue to bring the food and beverage industry closer to efficient water management lies in stormwater utilization. Production facilities, especially their external areas, often consist of extensive paved surfaces, from which water can be effectively collected for further use. Well-designed stormwater management systems can also help prevent runoff, which is often a source of contamination by organic substances, total suspended solids (TSS), heavy metals, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the abrasion of handling equipment and freight traffic. In recent years, ACO’s innovation team has been focusing intensively on the issue of stormwater treatment. The result is unique, independently tested, and certified (DIBt, VSA, ÖNORM) solutions that help transform stormwater into a resource that can be safely used for various technologies or for irrigating green spaces and agricultural crops.

"In various applications worldwide, we see the growing importance of stormwater management. A well-designed solution helps remove harmful substances from the water—both for people and the environment—enabling its reuse or safe return to the natural environment. This contributes to the secure replenishment of diminishing groundwater resources, an increasingly urgent and widely discussed issue. I believe this is also critical in the food and beverage industry," says Karel Dohnal, Business Development Manager for Stormwater Management at ACO.

“Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave No One Behind.” With this theme, the United Nations emphasized the critical role of water for sustaining life on Earth and its close connection to food production during World Food Day 2023. Water is a vital factor in achieving many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [6], including Goal 2 – Zero Hunger, and Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. Looking to the future and the predicted population growth, it is more crucial than ever to find ways to meet these goals successfully. One such path is through safe and efficient water management within the food and beverage industry.

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/
[2] https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress
[3] https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1151971
[4] https://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/food-system-challenges
[5]https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/world-water-day-two-billion-people-still-lack-access-safely-managed-water
[6] https://sdgs.un.org/goals