Your greenhouse gas emissions are documented to the decimal. Your energy consumption appears in the environmental section of your annual report. And somewhere in the back of the building, a delivery driver is swapping out a stack of plastic jugs that have not appeared anywhere in your sustainability disclosures.
Water stewardship is the next frontier in corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. Carbon got there first, and the reporting infrastructure around it is mature. Water is several years behind, but the gap is closing quickly, and the businesses that get ahead of the standard now will be the ones with a clean record when disclosure expectations tighten.
The Gap Between Carbon and Water Reporting
The numbers make the problem plain. A February 2026 study published in Nature Water found that while 14% of major companies report carbon emissions, only 9% disclose total water withdrawals, and just 1% report recycled water use. Water use is measurable in the same way carbon is. The gap comes from standards and expectations that have not yet reached the same level of urgency.
For most companies, carbon reporting became serious when investors started demanding it. Water is on the same trajectory. Approximately 25% of the global population lives in water-stressed regions, supply chain disruptions tied to water scarcity are already affecting major industries, and investors are increasingly including water risk in their portfolio assessments. The pressure to disclose is building.
The Water Sustainability Index
In February 2026, researchers from Stanford University and Korea University published the Water Sustainability Index in the journal Nature Water. The index is designed to do for water what greenhouse gas accounting did for carbon: create a standardized, quantitative method for measuring corporate water performance that investors and regulators can compare across companies.
The index evaluates five dimensions: source water type, local watershed stress conditions, consumption rates, discharge quality, and water reuse. It accounts for geography in a way most current ESG systems do not. Withdrawing water from a drought-prone basin in the Southwest carries different sustainability implications than withdrawals from a water-abundant region in the Pacific Northwest, but most scoring systems treat both identically.
For businesses, the Water Sustainability Index represents the direction requirements are heading. Companies that are already measuring and reducing their water footprint, including the plastic waste generated by their water service, will have an easier time building credible disclosures as the standard gains adoption.
GRI 303: Water and Effluents
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework worldwide. Its water standard, numbered 303 and titled Water and Effluents 2018, covers water-related disclosures specifically. Under this standard, organizations are expected to report:
Total water withdrawal by source (municipal supply, surface water, groundwater), total water consumption, water intensity (consumption relative to a business metric like revenue or square footage), and any significant water-related impacts on the surrounding community or environment.
For a business that has eliminated jug delivery, the water reporting picture changes materially. The water withdrawal volume shifts from a distributed supply chain, including bottling facilities, municipal water at the bottling plant, and delivery system water use, to the single building-level consumption of the point-of-use system. The plastic eliminated from the water service is also relevant to a related standard, GRI 306: Waste 2020, which covers waste generated and disposed of by the organization and its supply chain.
CDP Water Security Disclosures
The CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) runs the world's largest corporate environmental disclosure system. Its water security disclosure program is used by thousands of companies and requested by hundreds of capital market investors.
This disclosure program asks companies to identify their water-related risks and opportunities, describe their water governance approach, report on water withdrawal and consumption by facility, and disclose targets for water reduction. Companies that score well demonstrate that water is treated as a core strategic issue.
For a business that has switched from jug delivery to point-of-use purification, the disclosure narrative is straightforward: the water service has been redesigned to eliminate plastic from the supply chain and reduce the building's water-related environmental footprint. That is a concrete, documentable result rather than a narrative commitment.
What Businesses Should Be Tracking
Whether a company is preparing for formal ESG disclosure or building an internal sustainability baseline, the metrics worth tracking from a water program are consistent:
Gallons of water previously sourced through bottled delivery versus current on-demand consumption. Number of jugs or plastic units eliminated annually and the corresponding weight of plastic removed from the supply chain. Reduction in delivery-related vehicle trips and the associated emissions. For businesses that have added the KUPA Station, the elimination of sparkling water and electrolyte packaging adds a separate trackable category.
These figures are reportable under the framework's water and waste standards, relevant to the CDP water disclosure program, and directly applicable to the kind of quantitative water sustainability scoring the new Water Sustainability Index measures.
For the full strategy on building a plastic-free water program from the ground up, the Plastic-Free Business Hydration guide covers the implementation and elimination steps in full.
Talk to our team about building a water sustainability program.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is water disclosure required for businesses in the United States?
Mandatory water disclosure requirements vary by jurisdiction and industry. In the US, formal mandatory rules are limited, but investor pressure through disclosure platforms and ESG rating agencies makes water reporting a de facto expectation for publicly traded companies and many private ones. Voluntary frameworks like GRI 303 and the CDP water program are the current standards businesses use to demonstrate accountability.
What does the Global Reporting Initiative's water and effluents standard require, and does it apply to my business?
GRI 303 is the Global Reporting Initiative's water standard, covering withdrawals, consumption, and related impacts. It applies to any organization that chooses to report under this framework, which is voluntary but widely adopted. Organizations in water-intensive industries, or those that have made sustainability commitments, often include this standard in their reporting.
How does switching to a bottleless water system affect our water disclosures?
It simplifies the disclosure picture. Rather than accounting for water embedded in a distributed supply chain, including the bottling process and packaging production, the business reports on a single building-level water connection. Plastic eliminated from the supply chain is also a reportable waste reduction, and it supports the water-related disclosures investors increasingly expect.
What is CDP and should our business be participating?
This is an internationally recognized disclosure platform used by over 23,000 companies. Capital market investors and procurement teams use its scores to assess supplier and portfolio company sustainability performance. Participating in its water program signals to investors that water risk is being actively managed.