Nestlé Waters is seeking re-certification against the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard (AWS) for its bottling site at Waterswallows, Buxton and welcomes public comments as part of the audit.
The Waterswallows site was first accredited in 2020 with platinum status – the highest rating available, being the first factory in the UK to achieve this top score in water stewardship.
The AWS Standard is a global standard promoting responsible water use that benefits local communities socially and economically, while ensuring environmental sustainability of watersheds.
The re-certification audit will take place on site from 5th to 8th March 2024.
About the AWS Standard
AWS International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard) is a globally applicable framework for major water users to understand their water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a catchment context. The Standard is intended to drive social, environmental and economic benefits at the scale of a catchment.
It achieves this by engaging water-using sites in understanding and addressing shared catchment water challenges as well as site water risks and opportunities. It asks water-using sites to address these challenges in a way that progressively moves them to best practice in terms of five outcomes:
- good water governance
- sustainable water balance
- good water quality status
- important water-related areas
- safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all
In pursuit of these outcomes, implementation of the Standard encourages collaborative approaches that involve business and industry, government and community as well as civil society organisations.
Download the full guidance on the AWS website: https://a4ws.org/the-aws-standard-2-0/
Get Involved
Stakeholders and members of the public are invited to provide comments to be considered during the audit.
This can be done in writing by sending emails to the lead auditor for Water Stewardship Assurance Services (WSAS), Wicki Nielsen, at wickinielsen7@hotmail.com.
Alternatively, if you would like to speak with the audit team, an interview can be arranged remotely by 8th March 2024. Contact Wicki as above.
You can also contact the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) directly with questions in accordance with AWS Comments, Complaints and Appeals Procedures via the webpage: https://a4ws.org/about/comments-complaints-and-appeals/ or email: assurance@a4ws.org.
